The Rise of Hawkmoth Jr
by Twilin Dreamaren
Summary: Adrien gets akumatized after an argument with his father. Out of resentment, he becomes Hawkmoth's "son", Hawkmoth Jr. He is constantly struggling with his morals to Ladybug, please his father, and not alarm the world with the crazy events caused by his akumatizing. Plenty of reveals, plenty of Ladrien, and Gabriel is Hawkmoth.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Disclaimer, all of the characters, excluding the concept of Hawkmoth Jr., are owned by Mr. Astruc and others.**

"But father-!" Adrien begged desperately.

"No buts, Adrien. Your normal school and friends have become a bad influence and distraction from your other studies, and modeling. You will not be attending public school any longer!" Gabriel Agreste glared, striding stiffly out of his son's bedroom, quietly closing the door behind him.

Tears streamed down the model's reddened face. He ran to his bed, and dived into the comforter, muffling a scream into his pillows.

"Adrien-" his kwami began worriedly, but was cut off by a, "Shut up, Plagg! I don't want to hear your whines for Camembert right now!"

Meanwhile, Gabriel walked into his office, and stopped in the center of the room. His kwami zipped out of his coat, and sputtered, "Master, you shouldn't have been so cruel! He's your son!" The man grinned somewhere between a cynical smirk and sincere smile.

"I know my outbreak was harsh, Nooroo, but now, I can use him to help me bring back his mother and my wife! Nooroo, dark wings, rise!"

The designer was engulfed by darkness, and the darkness formed into his suit, the only light remaining visible was from his eyes and mouth. The villain quickly disappeared into thin air, and appeared in his lair, far away from his house. He opened the single window in his dome, letting the fading light of the late sunset fill the dark room.

"Adrien, you're finally going to be able to join me in the effort to bring Renee back," the Moth Miraculous holder smiled wickedly, clasping a butterfly in his palms, and filling it with corrupt power. As he opened his hands, he smirked, and swung his cane exclaiming, "Fly away, my little akuma, and evilize him!"

Back in Adrien's room, the black butterfly flew through the glass of his window and straight past Plagg. The cat attempted to warn his master but was too late as the butterfly disappeared into a brooch given to Adrien by his father for one of his photoshoots containing a photo of his mother a few months before her disappearance.

" _Hello, son. I'm so sorry for your father's unfair treatment, never giving you a chance to voice your thoughts. If you would kindly accept my offer, I would gladly take you under my wing as my son, and treat you like how a son should be treated, letting you hangout with your friends, go to school, and spending personal time with you. I'll even give you the power to bring back the past akumas, to do whatever pleases you. I just need one simple thing in return,"_ Hawkmoth cooed.

" _The Miraculouses of Ladybug and Cat Noir, I know,"_ Adrien replied, concisely calculating how he would get Ladybug's Miraculous without hurting her, or revealing her identity without letting Hawkmoth know.

" _So, my son, what is your answer?"_ Hawkmoth hissed eagerly.

" _Of course, father. I even know where Cat Noir's Miraculous is right now,"_ Adrien grinned darkly, putting his hands behind his back, and sliding his ring off out of Hawkmoth's sight. The brooch at the center of the the teen's chest poured out shadows with engulfed the boy's body. The darkness molded into a replica of Hawkmoth's iconic suit, dress shirt, and brooch, but the one difference between the senior's and junior's appearance was that the mask didn't cover his ears and hair, letting some humanity show through.

A few seconds later, the model heard Nathalie's steps coming towards his room. " _You have the ability to hide your new power, and appear in your civilian form. You shouldn't just reveal to your old father that you have changed loyalties,"_ Hawkmoth told the boy. Just as Nathalie knocked on his door, the boy's suit disappeared, and his previous outfit, though with a new, black and purple color scheme, appeared again. As the servant opened the door, she informed the teen, "Dinner is ready." The teen nodded, and followed the servant out.

 **A/N: Hello, Miraculers. As you probably figured out, Gabriel Agreste is Hawkmoth in this story. I came up with this thought a few days ago, and told a girl in my school who also really likes Miraculous, and she was so amazed by the idea of Adrien's akumatized form being Hawkmoth Jr., that she will make art for the story(hopefully!). Another concept I've liked is that Hawkmoth has the ability to teleport, like his illusion in Volpina, which makes his appearances between his civilian and villain in varieties of locations possible. I don't know how long this story will be, but I will try to make a lot of chapters, so wish me luck. Please, if you have any thoughts or ideas that you'd like to see in this story, please tell me; I need all of the inspiration I can get.**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Hello Miraculers. I've been on a roll here with racking out multiple chapters of fanfics tonight! I hope you enjoy this slightly longer chapter. The next chapter, which I'm planing to be a little longer, I'm going to try writing tomorrow, so you won't have to wait long, unlike my other story,** ** _Insecurities_** **.**

After another fatherless dinner, Adrien returned to his room. As walked over to his window, looking out at the starry sky, with a crescent moon just about to set. " _Hawkmoth Jr,"_ Hawkmoth spoke into the model's head. " _I need to detransfom and live my civilian life for the night. I'll notify you when I'm back. Good night."_

" _Good night,"_ the teen replied with a smile. He finally had a father-like person in his life who actually paid attention to him. It felt so great, that it overpowered Adrien's worry that he was now helping his enemy hurt normal civilians, and possibly his own crush.

Adrien wondered to himself if he'd be able to use his Miraculous while akumatized without some weird magical explosion occurring. He walked back over to his bed, and picked up his ring, sliding it back onto his finger right ring finger. To his surprise, Plagg appeared once more, with only worry to be seen on his face.

"Adrien! What did you do?! You know Hawkmoth never actually means what he tells his victims!" Plagg exclaimed.

"Shut up, Plagg! I think he actually means it this time. Unlike his other akuma, he's not just forcing me to go and search for Ladybug and well, me! He's treating me like I'm his son!" Plagg was about to counter his master, but Adrien stopped him and continued: "If I can do this right, I may end up with a better father, heart of the girl behind Ladybug's mask, and maybe even my mom coming back, Plagg. I know this is dangerous, but I'm going to try, and there's no stopping me from trying!" Adrien then called out his transformation words, and Plagg was sucked into the Miraculous.

The transformation went on like it normally did, but it felt even more powerful than ever, with the added the power of the akuma. The model opened his window and bounded away towards the Eiffel Tower where he found his lady standing near the top of the monument, staring out at the city below. He quietly climbed up to her, and softly landed next to her with a bow.

"Hello, my lady," he grinned.

"Hello, kitty," she greeted back with a confident smile which slowly turned into a distressed cringe while looking at her partner. "Cat Noir, what's happened to your eyes and hair?" She walked closer, and grabbed a small tuft of his hair between her thumb and index finger.

The hero grabbed his own bangs, and pulled them down to see. His hair was now an even paler blond, like his father's. He quickly smirked back, "I changed it so you would come over here and touch it." Ladybug immediately let go, and stepped away from him with a raised eyebrow and disbelief.

"Then tell me what happened to your eyes," she demanded. "They are now more of a dark, swamp green."

"I don't know. Maybe they change with the weather?" the cat shrugged carelessly, wishing he could tell his love what happened to him. The red superhero looked at him suspiciously, but sighed, and let it go.

"I wonder when the next akuma will be coming. It's been awhile," the girl stated, looking back out at the city looking for any sights of noticeable akumas.

"Yeah, I wonder to," the boy responded, guilt stabbing his heart.

The two became weary of standing, so that sat down on the edge of the tower together, silently looking at the stars. Adrien scooted a little closer to the girl next to him, and put the hand he was leaning on behind her back.

"Do you know what I wish," Cat Noir spoke somewhat aimlessly.

"What do you wish?" Ladybug restated back to him.

"I wish we didn't have to keep our identities secret, well, at least from each other," the male hero finished.

"We know that can't happen. The only reason we'd ever learn each other's identity is if it is a complete emergency, or if Hawkmoth gets one of our Miraculouses," Ladybug sighed.

"I guess," the boy sighed back. "I just wish I could get to know you when you are at school or doing more normal stuff, since we only see each other when we are transformed."

The two sat around for a few more moments, and then Ladybug got up, yawning.

"Well, it's pretty late, and I need my sleep since I take a while to wake up," Ladybug explained, preparing her yo-yo to throw.

"Yeah, it's pretty late for me too, and I'm going to have a big day tomorrow," Cat yawned back, equipping his staff.

The two said their goodnights, and set off in their own directions. After reaching his room again, the model detransformed, dived back into his bed, and immediately fell asleep.

Over in Gabriel's office, Gabriel stared out of his window, smiling at the sky, still processing the information he has just discovered through seeing a slightly altered Cat Noir leap out of his son's window. Nooroo floated beside his master also amazed by the situation.

"Well, Nooroo, I now know I have easy access to Cat Noir's Miraculous, which I'm glad my son hinted to me through telepathy," the human beamed.

"That is one of my worries," the kwami cringed. "Your son being an akuma while using his Miraculous at the same time may injure Plagg, his kwami."

"You shouldn't worry, Nooroo. I'll tell Adrien in the morning that I, Hawkmoth, know he is Cat Noir. I will not hint to him that I, as Gabriel Agreste, his terrible, unjust father, know his little secret."


	3. Chapter 3

In the morning around six, Adrien lay curled up in his blankets happily. As he dreamed, a vague dream he wouldn't remember, suddenly, a voice in his head gently woke him up.

" _Wake up, Adrien. It's time for you to get up and get to school,"_ the voice nudged at the boy's conscience.

The boy moaned, and simply thought, " _Okay."_

As he woke up, he looked at the clock, and realized that he woke up a little earlier than usual. " _Hawkmoth, why am I up so early?"_

" _I must speak to you about what I've planned for you to do, today, if you would gladly accept,"_ Hawkmoth offered.

" _Of course,"_ Adrien answered hesitantly.

" _Unlike other akumas as you probably have determined, you will be in the akumatized state for a while,"_ Hawkmoth began, hoping that his son wouldn't become too hesitant and pull out of the agreement.

" _Yeah, I figured, but why didn't you put me right into action yesterday right after I was akumatized?"_ the boy asked suspiciously.

" _Your goal isn't short term, and you lack revenge which in the past I have often targeted. I also believe that yours and my goals are very similar,"_ the villain explained.

" _Huh? You are trying to get Ladybug and Cat Noir's Miraculouses. I simply wanted to have a father figure in my life. I don't exactly see how they are similar,"_ the teen frowned.

" _You musn't have truly understood my goal. I wish to resurrect my wife, who was a victim of the previous Cat Noir and Ladybug, using the powers of both of their Miraculouses combined,"_ Hawkmoth revealed.

The model could not respond. He never actually guessed that the goal of the man terrorizing Paris was to bring his wife back. They really did have similar goals: to have someone more loving in his life, to finally be with his partner, and to bring back a loved one.

" _So, Hawkmoth Jr., or should I say, Cat Noir, would you like to hear my plan to obtain Ladybug's miraculous?"_ Hawkmoth grinned wickedly as Adrien began trembling. " _Don't fret, my son. I won't be needing your Miraculous 'til we obtain Ladybug's as well, and knowing that you are so infatuated with the girl, I've made plans which won't involve any pain on her part."_

Adrien's subconscious began blaring warnings, but the akuma in his brooch muffled them, reminding him of his goals. " _Of course, father. What's your plan?"_ Adrien smirked, and his akuma outfit reappeared.

" _I plan for you to evilize that girl, Lila, again and turn her into Volpina so we can use her powers to imitate our other identities, if needed."_

" _When would I do that? In school? It's not like I'll be able to go to school!"_ Adrien exclaimed.

" _That's why we need Volpina. She will imitate that you are there at your house while you are at school,"_ Hawkmoth explained.

" _But what if she disobeys me?"_

" _I will be able to communicate with her and control her as well,"_ the adult reassured. " _Go now to where she is, and evilize her with your own, more powerful and controlled akumas!"_

The model nodded, teleporting himself to the house which Lila lives at. He peered at the windows trying to find out which one she was behind. He spotted a room which was slightly lit by the light of a phone. He reappeared in that room where he found Lila asleep with her phone buzzing lightly, supposedly being an alarm. The boy clasped his hands together instinctively, and from within, and green and purple butterfly appeared. He let the "fake" akuma out of his fingers, and the creature harbored itself inside the same necklace as it did before, which she was conveniently wearing.

The girl suddenly sat up, looking completely awake with a pale green moth around her eyes as Hawkmoth Jr. spoke to her: " _Volpina, Hawkmoth and I, Hawkmoth Jr., need your assistance. We need to use your power of illusions to hide our identities, but you can still seek your revenge against Ladybug, and be with Adrien."_

" _Yes,"_ the girl hissed, as her fake Fox Miraculous outfit returned.

Adrien dispersed out of the room, and appeared back at his own room with just enough time before Nathalie normally checks up on him.

" _Volpina,"_ he called. " _Make an illusion of Adrien staying at his house and being home schooled. I have the original Adrien with me."_ As the illusion appeared in his bedroom, the real Adrien switched to his "normal outfit" of nearly all black. The original collected all of his books and papers, neatly putting them in his bag. As he heard Nathalie knock, he quickly grabbed his kwami who was sleeping on the floor for some reason, and teleported to school.

As he reappeared in front of the school, he looked around, finding no students, but he wasn't alarmed because school started in an hour. The teen decided he'd just sit on the steps and talk with his kwami as he waited for his friends to arrive.

"Plagg," Adrien said, slightly shaking the kwami in his hands.

The kwami moaned.

"Plagg, wake up!" Adrien commanded quietly.

"I'm not feeling good though," the kwami whined.

The model placed the kwami on his lap, and searched his bag, pulling out a slice of cheese. "Plagg, I have some cheese," the boy tried teasing.

"Please just give it to me. I'm not feeling well after you transformed while akumatized, and didn't even give me cheese to let me heal myself over night," Plagg stated raspily. The teen just placed the stinky cheese in little cat's paws, putting the kwami in his bag with the rest of the cheese.

After a few minutes passed, students began arriving at the school. Adrien got out of the way of those walking up the steps, and sat down on a bench beside the steps. As other students walked passed the model, whispers like, "What happened to his hair?" spread. When students were on the steps, they tried sneaking pictures of him with his new look, but Adrien looked over at them and glared at them, startling the kids, and causing them to run into the school.

Finally, Nino arrived, and Adrien got up and walked over to him.

"Hey Adri-. Yo, what happened to your eyes and hair, dude?!" the darker-skinned teen gasped.

"I just changed up my hair up a bit, and I'm wearing contacts," Adrien explained.

"It's an okay look to me, but what does your dad think?" Nino worried.

"Oh, he hasn't seen any of it. But, I guess he'll see it later, after school," he shrugged.

"Dude, what if your dad pulls you out of school because of it?!" Nino exclaimed.

"He already told me not to go to school anymore, but this is the only place that I feel happy at honestly, so I had to break his rule," the akumatized teen told his friend.

"What?! You really shouldn't disrespect your dad, dude," Nino advised.

"But the guy is ruining my life, Nino!" Adrien yelled, and Nino stepped back, and raised his hands up in surrender.

"Dude, please, I'm just worried about, you know. Let's just go to class," the boy's best friend advised. Nino nudged his friend forward, and the two walked up to the classroom.

Meanwhile, Marinette was once more scurrying around her bedroom, almost being late to school. As she collected all of her stuff, her phone buzzed with a message from Alya:

 _ **Alya: Girl, look at Adrien's new look. He's going all rebel!(Sent with picture)**_

 _ **Marinette: Oh my gosh he looks so good. But wait, is he okay? It just doesn't seem like him to die his hair and wear contacts.**_

 _ **Alya: Oh, Marinette, don't worry! I'll talk to Nino and see what's the scoop when I get to school, which you're going to be late for if you are still standing around in your room gushing over Adrien!**_

The girl jumped in panic, nearly dropping her phone, as she grabbed her stuff, and dashed downstairs.

 **A/N: Hello to any readers who have actually completed this chapter! I hope all of you readers enjoyed this story so far. I'm probably not going to be posting often, with having school, but any reviews you can give me will inspire me to write more. Inspiration is hard for me to get on a regular basis. I've been having some difficulty making a summary of this story which I actually like. If any of you can give me some ideas, I'd be so grateful if you could tell me!**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Hello, readers. Sorry for the week wait. This chapter is extremely long, and kind of confusing. I have so much I want to cover, within the time that events are happening in the story, and it is so difficult to write the amount I can cover cohesively! Enjoy the next chapter!**

About five minutes before class started, Marinette dashed into the classroom, making it just in time. She quickly glanced at Adrien's expression before plopping down next to Alya, and noticed he seemed pretty happy, but angry at the same time.

"Alya, what did Nino say?" the girl whispered to her best friend.

"He said that he had a bad run in with his dad, and that he's not supposed to be at school," the reporter gossiped quietly.

"What?!" Marinette exclaimed just as Miss Bustier walked into class.

"Marinette, you better not make a ruckus during class!" she warned.

"Sorry!" Marinette peeped, covering her face in embarrassment

Most of class was very generic and boring: listen, take notes, and answer questions, but when lunch arrived, things got a little more exciting.

As all of the students left to go home for lunch, Marinette and Alya walked together over to the bakery.

"I can't believe Adrien is actually ditching his dad," Alya said solemnly.

"Yeah, I'm really worried about him," Marinette murmured, watching her feet as she walked.

"Hey, maybe Ladybug will notice something's up, and check on him," Alya suggested trying to lighten the mood.

"Well, he's not being attacked by an akuma, nor does he act like an akuma, so…" Marinette trailed off, as she saw adults floating up into the sky with, _more bubbles?!_

Alya's glum frown turn into an excited grin within a second, saying, "Looks like it's an akuma! I better not miss this!" She dashed off back in the direction of school.

Marinette also dashed off, hiding behind a poster, and letting Tikki out of her purse.

"Tikki, what's going on?! Can people be akumatized twice?" the teen panicked.

"Marinette, don't worry. It's probably just Nino being akumatized a second time due to a similar reason as last time," Tikki reassured Marinette.

"I just hope this isn't another Puppeteer kind of thing," Marinette, sighed, letting all of her worries out, and inhaling confidence. "Tikki, spots on!"

The girl transformed, and began swinging her way back to the school, dodging adults floating away.

Meanwhile, as Adrien and Nino headed out for lunch, Nino pulled Adrien aside into an empty classroom, and looked at him with seriousness.

"Dude, what's going on? You're really not acting like yourself. What happened bro?" Nino urged Adrien.

"Nothing happened, bro," Adrien grinned with a hint of aggressiveness, setting his bag down.

"Come on, Adrien. Give me more details about the thing with you father," Nino pressured his friend.

"No!" Adrien cracked. Darkness surrounded his body, and the purple and black suit reappeared. "If you have wanna get more details, then you can help me get rid of my dad!" The model conjured another purple and green butterfly, and the the insect flew straight towards the bubbles in Nino's pocket.

As the akuma discolored the bubbles, Nino pulled the bottle out, smirking at Hawkmoth Jr.

" _Bubbler, will you join me, your best friend, and help me obtain Ladybug's Miraculous and make Gabriel Agreste disappear?"_

" _Of course, dude,"_ the DJ grinned wickedly, high-fiving the sinister celebrity as the bright colors decorated the boy's skin.

The two akumas exited the classroom, and the blond watched his friend unsheath his bubble sword, and take off, sending enormous bubbles in the directions of the closest adults. Hawkmoth Jr. then walked back into the classroom, changed back into his "civilian self", and opened his bag.

Inside his bag, Plagg lay with his eyes closed, motionless in a slightly contorted position.

"Plagg!" Adrien shouted, poking at the kwami. The little cat moaned, and rolled over onto his stomach. He batted his eyes open little by little, and looked up at his master with shy sincerity.

"What?" the kwami inquired with a cough.

"I need to transform. I can't let my lady fight the akuma alone," the teenager grinned with a facade of heroism.

"Isn't that hypocritical?" Plagg rasped.

Adrien paused for a second, but model shrugged, and cheered, "Plagg, claws out!"

With a muffled, "Not again!" the black cat swirled into the magical ring, and teen's skin-tight outfit appeared. The anti-hero sprinted to the window, observing the hundreds of adults floating in the sky. He squinted, as he looked for a particular fashion designer. To his pleasure, he saw Gabriel Agreste beating at the walls of his bubble, appearing to be calling for help but no sound could be heard.

" _Good job, Bubbler,"_ he praised.

" _Thanks dude,"_ his informal soldier replied.

" _Where are you right now?"_ the boy asked, hoping to arrive at the battlefront before his heroic counterpart.

" _I'm at the Eiffel Tower right now."_

" _I'm coming over to you."_

He spotted the hero of creation swing towards the monument from a few blocks further than he was. The hero of destruction launched himself out of the classroom towards his akuma. He landed at the base of the tourist attraction, and peered up at his servant with a smirk.

"So, the Bubbler is back, trying to blow all of the adults away. What poked your bubble this time?"

"I'm stopping all of the adults from ruining kids' lives," he sneered, sending bubbles in his direction.

As the bubbles were about to hit him, Ladybug proudly landed in front of him, causing him to jump.

"Cat," she began, swinging her yo-yo to preventing the bubbles from getting to them. "What do you think happened?!"

"What do you mean?" he smirked flirtily, dodging the bubbles that passed through Ladybug's shield.

"How is he back?!" she reiterated sharply.

"I don't know," the Cat shrugged.

Just like before, the excess bubbles became too fast to block, and they began revolving into a bubble.

" _Bubbler, don't trap Cat Noir! He's on our side!"_ the teen exclaimed, stepping away from Ladybug, and hiding his mask behind the bubbles rushing past his face.

" _Really? Now that's a surprise!"_ the akuma laughed with the green outline around his eyes.

" _Don't expect Cat Noir to talk to you like an ally. We have company,"_ Adrien referenced to Alya recording from behind the Bubbler.

A different outline formed around both akumas faces as the original Hawkmoth , " _What are you two doing?! That's exactly how you didn't obtain the Miraculous the first time!"_

" _Don't worry, dad. Bubbler will just be a distraction to create evidence against anyone who claims 'Cat Noir was akumatized'. I'll get you her Miraculous after a few more akumas to wear her out."_

" _Make sure of it, son,"_ Hawkmoth agreed with unease.

The bubble formed around the red and black heroine and Cat Noir used a pretense of fear and anger.

"Ladybug!" he called as Bubbler swung his sword and sent her flying into the sky.

"Don't you dare touch her!" the feline hissed, crying, "Cataclysm!"

He extended his staff, reaching up towards Ladybug. He successfully reached her, popping the bubble and catching her while trying to keep balance on his staff. He quickly shrunk back to the ground, and called to her, "I need to recharge!"

The teen hid himself in an alleyway as Plagg swirled out of his ring.

"You're making me feel really sick!" Plagg exclaimed, collapsing into the model's hands.

"What, can't deal with a little extra power?" he cynically chuckled.

"No! I can't! It's making me really sick!" the kwami rasped with cough.

"Here, have some Camembert. That should heal all of your illness," the boy laughed, holding out a piece of stinking cheese in the little cat's face.

"No, Camembert won't heal me this time," he replied, slowly grabbing for the cheese, and taking small bites.

"I guess if I can't be Cat Noir, so I guess I'll just have to fake being Cat Noir," the teen grinned wickedly. " _Hawkmoth,"_ he called.

" _Yes, my son?"_ the supervillain asked softly.

" _Can you transform me into a false Cat Noir?"_

" _Of course,"_ he chuckled, the dark Adrien turning back into a dark Cat Noir with one difference between this form and his previous: his brooch, turned black, was slightly visible on the black fabric, but not obvious.

The anti-hero then called his first servant. " _Volpina."_

" _Hawkmoth Jr.,"_ the fox replied.

" _I need your service. Come to the alleyway near the Eiffel Tower where I am."_

In seconds notice, the fake Miraculous holder appeared behind the hero.

" _What do you need?"_ the girl inquired.

" _Just make me look an even more realistic Cat Noir. My kwami isn't co-operating, so also, take my Miraculous and bring it back to me after this 'battle'."_

She nodded, and took the silver ring, and the little cat who was trying to yell for help, muffling his cries.

The second fake Miraculous holder ran back out of the alley, but when he came back, he found Ladybug jumping and catching the green and purple akuma, holding it in her hands.

"Cat! Come look at this!" she called.

He dashed over with a smile. "What is it, my lady?"

"I don't know. The akuma doesn't look right. It is off color." The hero slightly opened her hands, but the 'akuma' seemed to have disappeared.

"Where did it go?!" she gasped, turning her head every which way, looking for it.

"I don't know!" the akuma in disguise copied the hero's panic, searching around for it. "Maybe the victim knows something!" The black cat smirked slightly, and approached his victim, with the Ladybug following behind.

"Nino, that is your name, right?" he asked innocently. The DJ nodded. "What do you remember from being akumatized?"

The film director shook his head and adjusted his cap. "I don't really remember. All I remember I talking to my bud, Adrien, and we were talking about his dad. I don't remember anything after that."

"Well that's strange," Ladybug stated, looking at the cat with worry.

Her earrings began to beep, and her eyes widened in more panic. "See you next time, kitty! I need to get back to school!"

"See you, Bugaboo," he grinned flirtily, watching his love swing away. "Won't be long until I see you next." He cackled quietly.

 **A/N: Sorry for the run-on chapter. These events happen in such a short amount of time, that it is so difficult to explain. The next chapter will hopefully make slightly more sense, when ever I get to writing it.**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Sorry for the late update. School has been really stressful lately. I thank all of those who have followed, reviewed, and favored this story. You have all given me inspiration which has helped me deal with some mental problems I face on a daily basis. But now without further adieu, here's Chapter 5:**

Right after battle, Cat Noir escorted Nino back to school.

"Are you sure you're alright, dude?" the hero asked the civilian.

"Yeah, I'm sure. I'm just worried about my bro, Adrien," he sighed.

"What's wrong, if you can tell me?" the cat asked.

"He had a bad argument with his dad," he answered.

"Well, that's a shame," the blond dressed in black frowned sincerely.

"He's not acting right as well. He is directly disregarding his father, and before I was akumatized, our conversation wasn't going too well. I just don't know what to do to help him!"

The model was momentarily brought back to morality, and was saddened by his friend's distress. "Don't worry about it, dude. I'm sure things will get better for him," he smiled, in hopes to console his friend.

The first bell rang, and Nino's eyes widened in alarm. "I need to get to class!" the DJ exclaimed.

"See ya," the hero smiled back sincerely.

The hero launched himself to the back of the school.

" _Volpina,"_ he called.

" _Yes, Hawkmoth Jr.?"_ she asked, an illusion of her appearing right in front of him.

" _I need my Miraculous back,"_ the boy stated, changing into his akuma form.

" _Of course."_ The real Volpina jumped off the roof of a nearby building, and landed with the ring and the sleeping kwami, who was looking paler.

The teen took the ring, placed it on his finger. He then carefully picked up the slightly grayer cat, and place him in the palm of his +opposite hand.

As he looked back up, he saw a purple moth outline around the fox's face, and she spoke, "Yes, Hawkmoth."

She looked directly back at Adrien and told him, "Follow me. Hawkmoth wants me to bring you to him. She turned around, and began leading the boy away through the shadows of alleyways.

After traveling many kilometers through the city, the anti hero and heroine reached a building with a dome on the top. "Go up to the dome up there. Hawkmoth is waiting there for you," the fox informed him.

The model teleported himself up to the dome. When he opened his eyes, he saw a flock of white butterflies flying around the room, particularly around a figure in the center of the room.

"I'm glad you've come," the dark voice of the figure boomed, echoing throughout the room. The man took a few steps approaching the boy, Upon reaching him, the adult placed his hand on the child's shoulder and spoke kindly: "I'm proud of your progress so far, Adrien."

"Thank you," the teen smiled widely. The adolescent took a few more steps closer, and wrapped his arms around the back of his "new" guardian, carefully holding Plagg, and nuzzled his head into the man's chest.

The man, startled by sudden affection, slowly and carefully embraced his son back.

"Adrien, what would you like to do with me as your new father?" the villain asked nervously after his child ended the hug.

"I don't know," the model replied, brainstorming all of the things he wish he'd have done with his father. "Maybe have dinner together?" he mentioned anxiously.

"There is one complication, as you may have noticed, with both of us being Miraculous holders; we can't just walk into public as Cat Noir and Hawkmoth," the father stated.

"I know," the boy sighed disappointedly worried that his desire would be rejected.

"But," the adult began with a soft smile. "Volpina can disguise me as your biological father, and we can have father-son bonding at whichever restaurant you'd like."

Adrien's eyes lit up with happiness, and quickly hugged his father once more. "Thank you so much!" he grinned excitedly.

"So, where would you like to go?"

The sidekick pondered for a few moments before concluding, "A bakery. One on Gottlieb Street owned by a friend of mine from school."

"Sounds nice," Hawkmoth smiled. He sighed, and said, "I'll meet you in front of the bakery at four. I have some things to tend to in my civilian life."

With that, the man disappeared, and the young villain was left alone in the lair of butterflies with his kwami, grinning gleefully. The boy began to dance around the room with excitement and glee, but he soon stopped as Plagg stirred.

"Adrien," Plagg rasped softly.

"What is it Plagg?" he replied blandly.

"I'm not doing well. If you transform akumatized many more times, I don't think I'll last!" The kwami immediately relaxed and went unconscious again.

Adrien chuckled at the patheticness of the cat, but paused in realization his apathetic action. He then disappeared, and reappeared at school where he left his bag. The teen placed the kwami into the bag, and once more teleported himself, this time, to his bedroom.

Later at the end of the school day, Marinette began walking out with Alya and Nino who were discussing the latest akuma battle.

"Hey Nino, what happened? How did you get akumatized?" Alya grinned, holding her phone up in front of her.

"Honestly, I don't remember a thing. Sorry!" he apologized.

Alya let out a deep sigh of disappointment.

"What's wrong?" Marinette asked her best friend, nearly tripping down the steps.

"Look at these two pictures of Nino being talked to by Hawkmoth," Alya said. She pulled up a picture on her phone of Nino with a purple outline around his face, and then show another with a green outline around his face. "Look!" the reporter exclaimed. "Do you see the difference in color?"

"Yeah," Nino gasped.

"Maybe there are two Hawkmoths or something!" Alya theorized.

"I doubt it," Marinette opposed nervously. "It's probably just a trick of the light."

"Well, I guess we can deduct this when the next akuma happens," Nino shrugged, beginning to part from the two as they reached the sidewalk in front of the school.

"Alya, aren't you coming?" Nino inquired. The two were going to hangout at his house for the afternoon.

"Oh, yeah!" Alya laughed at her little mistake, following Nino's lead.

"See you two!" Marinette waved to the couple as she headed over to her bakery. As she crossed the street, she felt her purse flop around a little. Reaching the other side, she puzzledly opened the bag to be caught off guard by Tikki's urgent expression.

"Marinette, I think something's wrong with Cat Noir," the bug informed her holder.

"What? What do you mean?" Marinette worried.

"I can sense that Plagg, his kwami, is really ill," she explained.

"So shouldn't he go and see that master I brought you to?" the human questioned.

"Yes he should, but I don't think he's going to bring him to Master Fu," the bug worried.

"Don't worry too much, Tikki. I'll see him tonight, and I'll talk to him."

They reached the bakery, and the girl entered, smiling and greeting her parents before running upstairs to her bedroom.

Back at the mansion, Adrien fell back onto his bed and sighed happily. He got back up, and decided to sneak around the mansion to check and see how things were going with his illusion. He turned back into his civilian form, and slowly slid through his door. The first sight he saw when he left his room was Nathalie furiously talking to herself as she called someone.

"Ugh, Gabriel, where are you! Your son literally disappeared into dust three hours ago, and you don't even notice!" The secretary let out a frustrated scream. "I'm giving you one last chance before I call the police to see what in the world is going on!" She pressed redial, and about two tones went by before the phone was answered.

"Nathalie, I'm sorry. I had a very busy day at work, and I didn't have my phone with me," the fashion designer explained.

"Well, I've been calling you all day, to inform you that your son has disappeared."

"Disappeared!" the man exclaimed.

"Yes. He turned into dust about now three and a half hours ago, and you just didn't have your phone with you!" the woman screamed.

"Nathalie, put yourself together!" Gabriel commanded. "I don't think Adrien would have went far. He probably went back to school. He'll be home soon, and I'll give him a talking to later."

"Fine," she huffed angrily as her boss hung up.

Adrien shifted slightly thinking about how terrible of a parent his biological father was not to notice his son's disappearance. Nathalie turned her head, and noticed him standing and watching her.

"Adrien, where in the world did you go!" she yelled, marching up the stairs to him. "You quite literally turned to dust the last time I saw you, about four hours ago!"

"Sorry, Nathalie! I just can't stand being home-schooled, so I went back to school," he lied.

"No you didn't! I checked in with your school, and they said that you weren't there this afternoon, although you were there in the morning. So how can that be!" she growled.

Adrien froze, not knowing how to respond. Gladly though, his father arrived, and turned the secretary's attention away from him.

"Gabriel, you got here quite quickly," she stated, immediately hiding her rage and showing no sign of emotion.

"Yes, Nathalie, but if you excuse me, I must speak to my son," the designer responded.

The man walked up the stairs, and approached his child.

"Adrien, I heard you disobeyed my orders, and went to school," his father spoke coldly.

"Yes, father," he replied.

"So, why did you disobey my rules?" the man continued.

"I'm tired of having no say!" the teen yelled. "You are such a tyrant, controlling my activities, my friendships, and ruining my education! You're such a terrible father!"

The model broke down into tears and teleported himself over to the bakery where another version of his father waited patiently. "Dad!" the boy cheered, running over and embracing him.

"My son," 'Hawkmoth in disguise' cooed comfortingly, stroking his son's hair.

"I missed you," he murmured into his father's coat.

"I missed you too," he repeated back.

 **A/N: I hoped you enjoyed this chapter! I hope to update sooner than I did this time for the next, but who knows with tons of state exams coming up.**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Hello Miraculers. Sorry for not posting for two months. I had family issues which led to quite the drought of inspiration(ironically for this story). I'm going to to get right onto writing the next chapter, so enjoy!**

 **Chapter 6:**

The two entered the bakery, and were welcomed by the Dupain-Chengs.

"Good afternoon, Adrien and ," Sabine and Tom greeted.

"Good afternoon to you too. You can call me Gabriel like any other parent in your daughter's class," Gabriel smiled back.

"Ah, yes. Our daughter is such a big fan of your work!" Sabine smiled.

"I noticed. Marinette won my hat contest, didn't she?," the designer recalled.

"Yes she did, and she was so excited to have Adrien model it. She such a big fan," Tom grinned.

"I do appreciate those who are very dedicated with their work and have the talent the she exhibits," Gabriel smiled. "Adrien, do you know what you want?"

"Ah, yes!" the teen grinned, snapping out of a daze.

"What would you like, my dear?" Sabine asked.

"I'd like French Onion soup in a bread bowl," he ordered.

"And I'd like the same," the businessman followed.

"Alrighty! Two French Onion soups in a bread bowl coming right up!" Tom cheered.

The father and son smiled, as they took a seat by the window to wait for their food.

Up in Marinette's room, Marinette was sitting at her desk, looking at the pictures of the two different moth outlines.

"Tikki, what's going on? How did the bubbler come back? And what's with the two different colored outlines?" the teen asked, trying to make a list of how a past akuma returned.

"Like I said, Marinette, Nino could have been in an extremely similar situation as last time, which upset him, making him once more vulnerable to Hawkmoth, but the different colored outlines, I have no idea how to explain it," the kwami shrugged. "But, maybe it has something to do with my suspicion that Plagg is quite ill, and his holder isn't doing anything about it."

"Well that doesn't sound like Cat. I know he is pretty full of himself, but not to that extent," Marinette worried.

Tikki suddenly froze in the air, and then sped to the window where she saw Adrien appear in front of his father. "No way," the kwami muttered to herself.

"What is it Tikki?" Marinette asked, rushing over to the window. "Oh my goodness, it's Adrien! Is he- He's coming into the bakery with his dad! I can't believe it!" Marinette nearly boiled over in excitement.

"Calm down Marinette," Tikki advised, holding in a cringe about what her holder didn't see.

"Should I go down and introduce myself in person to ? No way! I'd probably embarrass myself. But should I at least say hi to Adrien?" Of course not! I'd probably melt just looking at him," Marinette rambled, perking up in hope, but wilting back into a sad slouch. The hero in disguise sighed, and decided she'd wait for a few minutes before going down.

The kwami on the other hand decided to sneak away as Marinette began working on her homework. Tikki told Marinette, "I'm going to go take a nap under your bed. I'm pooped after that battle."

"Okay, Tikki. I won't disturb you unless it's time for patrol, or if another akuma attacks," Marinette replied.

The ladybug spirit flew under the bed, and waited for about a minute before flying through the metal of the vent. She shot up the vent til' she reached the opening and the shot out in the direction of the Agreste mansion.

After a minute or two she reached the mansion, and flew through the window of Adrien's bedroom, landing on Adrien's bed in front of Adrien's open bag where Plagg lay motionless next to one of Adrien's textbooks. The little, red creature carefully glided over to the no-longer-black cat, and nudged him once. He didn't respond. She nudged him twice. He didn't respond again. She then dragged him out of the bag into the light, which finally brought his conscience back with a moan.

"Plagg!" Tikki cried, holding his fingerless hand, to hopefully help him up.

"Adrien, you-, Tikki?!" the black kwami jumped in surprise, but then moaned in pain of moving so quickly.

"Plagg. I'm glad you're still in the living, but not so glad as to Adrien not taking care of you and bringing you to Master Fu," the red kwami worried.

"Well, that's not going to happen, since Fu can spot an akuma from a mile away, no matter how discrete," Plagg rasped softly.

"So my suspicions are true. Adrien has been akumatized, but that doesn't explain why he just appeared in front his father, and Gabriel wasn't surprised," Tikki stated quizzically dragging Plagg up into the air.

"Yeah well, Hawkmoth was in disguise as his father, and Hawkmoth his being "a father" to Adrien in return for being an akuma," Plagg explain sarcastically.

"And, how long has this been going on?" the bug asked.

"About 24 hours," he coughed.

"Well, I'm not letting you remain in this much pain for longer, so I'll inform Marinette, and we can free Adrien from the akuma!" she cheered, about to head straight out of the window.

"No! You can't!" Plagg exclaimed suddenly, making the two run into window.

"Why? He's akumatized! I don't want him to lure Marinette and take her Miraculous, Plagg!" Tikki raised her voice.

"Because Hawkmoth is Adrien's dad, and this is helping their relationship!" the cat protested sentimentally, pulling his paw out of Tikki's hand, and feebly flew.

The lucky spirit froze in air, startled by his passion. "Plagg, but can easily turn on Adrien, and manipulate him to take Marinette's earrings!"

"I know! I know! But, this could end Hawkmoth's activity forever, and Adrien could bring his mother back!" the spirit of destruction yelled, ending in a fit of coughing and falling to the ground.

"Fine, Plagg, but keep me updated. Now, let's get you over to Master Fu's," Tikki compromised.

Tikki put her arm under Plagg's shoulder, and she flew them through the window, toward Master Fu's.

Meanwhile back at the bakery, Adrien and Gabriel were conversing happily.

"So, how was your school day, today?" the villain asked.

"It was fine, although, the other kids may be suspicious, with change in color of my hair and my eyes," the child inform his father.

"Well that's an issue, I'll fix it later, so don't be surprised when your hair and eyes return to normal, and just tell your friends it was washable dye and contacts," the man sighed with a small, soft smile.

"Of course," Adrien nodded, and softly transitioned the conversation: "So, will I be "akumatizing" anyone tomorrow?"

"No. I mustn't have Ladybug get suspicious of such frequent returning akuma as well as all of your discolored butterflies " Gabriel murmured only loud enough so his son could hear him.

"So, what will I be doing tomorrow?" the model questioned.

"I'm going to make another akuma who will only respond to my command, and it can be one of your typical battles," the designer suggested.

"Hmm... Well that sounds boring," the boy raised his eyebrow at the adult. "What if I 'lose my miraculous' tomorrow, and Ladybug would be more merciful to us," the anti-hero smirked.  
"Hmm…." Hawkmoth stroked his own chin with a grin. "That sounds quite interesting, though. But, we'll have to wait for later to execute that plan, since we can't make it too abrupt and have Ladybug chase after you, and I'd hate to see you in pain for seeing her in such emotion pain."

Adrien's eyes widened in awe of such a kind thought, and all he said was, "Thank you for such consideration!"

"No problem, my son. This how a father should treat his child," Gabriel replied solemnly. "But, for now, you have a patrol later, which you should try to get things better from last time and try to avert Ladybug's thought process from discovering our plan."

"Yes, sir," the teen saluted playfully before placing his napkin on the table.

The father got up from his chair and walked over to the counter carrying the dishes, and handed them to Sabine and Tom. "I enjoy the soup very much," Gabriel complimented.

"Oh, thank you, Gabriel. Come back anytime!" Sabine cheered as the two walked out of the bakery.

"Oh yeah, thank you for the meal," Adrien smiled, looking up at tall man hovering over him.

"It's no problem, Adrien. Thank you for mentioning this place. I enjoyed the food," his father smiled back sincerely, putting his hand on his son's shoulder.

"When will you talk to me again?" the boy questioned eagerly.

"I'll talk to you tonight after your patrol. You can tell me how it went," the man replied, leading Adrien away to a more discrete spot. "For now, I must go home and take care of things in my real civilian life."

Adrien completely forgot Hawkmoth was in disguise as his biological father and as it hit him, he saw a cloud of butterflies surround the adult, and as the butterflies flew off him, his purple and black suit returned. In a dark flash, Hawkmoth disappeared, and Adrien, with his yellow-blonde hair was left alone before he decided to transform into Cat Noir without Plagg, since he was already outside and he didn't wanted to poison the kawmi anymore.

 **A/N: I hope you enjoyed the chapter! I'm hoping to post the next chapter soon since I gained inspiration back after being stuck. Tell me how you liked it, since I was quite stuck on it for two months.**


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: Hello Miraculuers. Here's another chapter. Gladly this one didn't take as long to get inspiration for, even though it is much longer. Enjoy!**

As Tikki and Plagg finally reached Master Fu's house, they took a break on the perch of his window before gliding through. The two accidentally seemed to have walked into a healing session, so they snuck in and hid behind an oriental relic as they waited for the session to finish.

After the session concluded, the two kwamis revealed themselves, and Wayzz noticed first:

"Ah, Master?" the turtle spirit called to his holder while intently keeping his eyes on the his fellow kwami.

"Yes, Wayzz?" Master Fu inquired slowly turned his head. The man's eyes traced his kwami's sight over to the ladybug and the cat, and calmly smiled at them, noticing Plagg's color change. "Good evening Tikki and Plagg. What brings you here?"

"Um…" Plagg cringed worriedly.

"Well go ahead, he's your holder," Tikki nudged her nervous counterpart.

"So, my miraculousholderhasbeenakumatizedandhetransformed," the supposed-to-be black cat sputtered quickly holding off some coughs.

"Plagg! Come on!" Tikki raised her voice desperately.

"Don't worry, Tikki. I heard what he said," Master Fu sighed disappointedly. "Plagg, what caused your holder to be akumatized?"

"His father," the unlucky spirit sighed in shame. "His father scolded him harshly, giving Hawkmoth the opportunity to akumatize him," the spirit explained concisely.

"That's it?" Wayzz looked at Plagg suspiciously.

"And Hawkmoth know has become his 'new' father figure, and things actually seem to be going on well," Plagg tried to smile, but just ended up in a fit of coughing.

"That doesn't sound like 'well'," Master Fu stated. "But why did you continue to have your powers abused, might I ask Plagg?"

"Adrien's father…" the cat began hesitantly with a rasped.. "Adrien's father is Hawkmoth, and their relationship seems to be getting better."

"Plagg! Why have you let yourself and your holder get abused by Nooroo and your holder's own father! You know transforming while your holder is akumatized is very dangerous?!" Wayzz glared. "Within a second of you two seeking in, I could tell your power was nearly gone!"

"Like I said!" Plagg began to yell. "It is helping Adrien and his father's relationship with each other, and the comfort that his father has finally given to him is what my holder really needs!"

"Now you two, don't begin bickering!" Master Fu tried to run between the two spirits, but nearly fell. Gladly, Tikki and his cane caught him.

"Master Fu, could you simply heal me?" Plagg rasped with a sneeze at the end. "Adrien and I could stop Hawkmoth forever and get his Miraculous back if we do this right."

"Hmm," the old man began thinking. "I suppose, but I must ask if you can talk Nooroo, and make sure he is fine, since his powers are being quite abused as well."

Plagg saluted playful with a, "Yes sir," and Tikki helped Plagg over to the table where Master Fu placed his hands above him, and began healing the cat.

After a few minutes of waiting, Master Fu removed his hands from the air above the kwami, and stated solemnly, "You are better now, but do not let yourself be transformed."

"Thank you so much Master Fu!" Plagg cheered, zooming around the room, nearly knocking ancient artifacts over.

"Going to thank someone else?" the ladybug kwami raised her eyebrow quizzically at the cat.

"Thank you Tikki for helping me over, but I need to get back to Adrien!" the unlucky spirit said before zooming through the window towards the Agreste mansion. After reaching the Agreste mansion, Plagg dove through the door of Adrien's mini-fridge, and began stuffing his face with Camembert so he could make an excuse for why he is better without talking about Tikki or Master Fu, but to his surprise, Adrien didn't return for a while.

Tikki also rushed back to her house, so Marinette wouldn't notice her absence. As she carefully flew down through the vent and back under the bed, and dropped into a little box, faking sleep just in time before Marinette lifted the bed skirt to "wake her up."

"Tikki, time to wake up," the girl whispered.

The kwami seemingly woke up, and stretched with a yawn. "That was some good sleep," she smiled dazily at her holder.

"Well, it's time for patrol now, so Tikki, spots on!" The heroine transform, and climbed her way up the ladder onto her roof before swinging away to the Eiffel Tower.

Adrien, on the other hand, was already at the tourist sight, sitting on the ledge petting his tail as he waited for his lady to finally arrive. He perked up as he saw the bug swing across Paris towards him, and he smiled, wishing to tell her all about his day, but he was wise enough not to tell her his secret.

"Good evening my lady," he got up and bowed as she landed on the platform.

"Well, I see you're in a great mood today," she stated smugly.

"Well, I am in a great mood today. Good for you to notice, Bugaboo," he smirked, moving his face closer to hers.

Ladybug immediately pressed his face away, sternly saying, "No time to flirt tonight, Cat Noir. We have some problem solving to do."

"And what is that?" the cat raised an eyebrow.

"We need to figure out the cause of an akuma returning, and why some of the akuma's moth outlines are green instead of purple.

" _Hawkmoth Jr.,"_ Volpina stated.

"Ah! Not right now!" the anti-hero turned around and paced away from Ladybug who gladly couldn't see his outline from behind his hair.

"What?! Cat Noir?" the girl exclaimed, trudging over to him authoritatively.

"Ah! Sorry Ladybug!" the boy cringed playfully. "My kwami is complaining about wanting more cheese," he lied.

"What? Your kwami can talk to while you're transformed," she inquired doubtfully.

"Yeah, it's a special ability which only my kwami has!" he explained.

"Fine," the polka-dotted teen sighed. "But let's get down to business."

The two sat down, and Ladybug pulled out her yo-yo, and slid it open so she could pull up the images of the two different outlines on the Bubbler.

"Wow. I didn't notice that," the villain in disguise gasped seriously.

"Do you have any ideas how this happened?" she asked.

The cat paused for a moment, and thought of ways to distract her from the truth. "Maybe it was a trick of the light?" he offered.

"That's what I thought at first, but I have never seen this in the past, as well as a returning akuma, and such a strangely colored butterfly.

"I don't know," the model shrugged.

"Well, try to come up with something by tomorrow, so we can solve this before anything dangerous possibly happens.

"Of course, little lady," he smirked stepping right in front of her, and flaunting his height over her.

She rolled her eyes and sighed, relaxing her mind after hours of making lists. "So kitty, what made your day so good?" she smiled amusedly, walking over and leaning against a beam, Cat Noir following suit.

"Well, after school and the akuma attack, my dad as I went out for dinner, which is a rarity," Adrien grinned to himself, muddling all of the story.

"Really, well that sounded like it was fun," his partner smiled back.

"But, do you know what would make my day even better," the blonde grinned cheekily. "Revealing our identities to each other!"

"Cat, you know we can't do that, or our Miraculous may be compromised, and who knows what Hawkmoth will do when he gets our Miraculous!" Ladybug reminded him.

"But what's the chance he'll get our Miraculous?! He fails every time we battle him!" he argued.

"Cat, I must end this conversation. Only when we get in real danger will I let us reveal to each other," she shook her head disappointedly. She swung away, exhausted from the day, leaving Cat Noir to sighed sadly, his throat choking up, and tears nearly falling from his eyes.

" _Hawkmoth Jr., I'm so sorry for the lady troubles. Why not you come over to my lair, and we can talk about it,"_ Hawkmoth offered comfortingly.

"Okay," the young villain pouted. He disappeared, and reappeared in Hawkmoth's lair full of butterflies. There were two chairs in the middle of them: one which was empty, and the other with the formally dress supervillain.

"Welcome back, my son," Hawkmoth greeted warmly.

"Thank you," the boy sniffled.

"Come over here," the man suggested, waving his arm to the other chair. Adrien nodded, and made his way over to the seat.

"So, what's wrong?" the adult asked sympathetically.

"Well, I thought it was obvious," the teen sniffled again, falling into the wooden chair. "My ladybug always refuses to share her identity with me, but I just want to be able to be there for her more."

"Well, I understand," the father frowned in remembrance.

"Really?" the child question curiously.

"Yes. My wife and I had the same issue. She and I were on a superhero team together, with a few others of course, but for me, she was the most important one of all. She and I lead the team in the fight against the old Ladybug and Cat Noir, and she was so confident, beautiful, everything, and I fell hard for her. Of course, at one point in one of the battles against the pair, her Miraculous accidentally ran out in front of me, and she turned out to be a girl I knew all through school, and so after I revealed myself to her, and I just happened to be the person she was crushing on as well, so I married her, but I lost her in the final battle against the two villains, since she ended up getting Ladybug's miraculous, so Cat Noir sought revenge on her, and used his Cataclysm on her. Gladly, I was able to get his ring, which Master Fu could used alongside Ladybug's earrings to fix everything, and wipe the world's memory of the suffering, but of course, the one thing that didn't return was my wife."

Hawkmoth was in tears after the story, and Adrien's tears were dried.

"That's so sad," the boy gasped. "I'm so sorry."

"Thank you," the villain smiled faintly.

"No problem," the son smiled back. "Well, I hope we'll be able to bring her back as well as my mother."

"That's what I hope too," Gabriel continued smiling, before getting up, giving his son a hug, and saying goodnight.

The two teleported back to the Agreste mansion, and went to bed, preparing for a good day tomorrow.

 **A/N: I hoped you enjoyed the chapter! I don't know Hawkmoth's monologue was too much, but it seemed fitting. If you have any thoughts or comments, but them in the reviews!**


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: Hello, readers. I'm updating again, since I've had the inspiration. This chapter is nearly double the length of a normal chapter since there is a lot of stuff going on in it. I'm a little nervous about it, so I just hope you enjoy.**

The next morning, Adrien was woken up in a similar manner: " _Adrien, wake up,"_ Hawkmoth's voice whispered softly into his mind. The one major difference is that he woke up quite late.

"Mmm…" he moaned, groggily pushing himself up. "Why am I up so late?" he asked himself.

" _Your other father is keeping you in the house all day, which is quite unfortunate"_ the villain explained.

Adrien trudged over to the window, but before he tried opening them, his father informed him, " _You are completely locked indoors. There is no way for you to get out of your room, without magic of course."_

"So, what are you asking me to do?" the model asked, walking over to his bathroom.

" _I'd like for you to meet me here at 12, to discuss what kind of akuma battle we hope for today,"_ the villain answered. " _I'll be waiting in my lair for you as you do whatever your other father wants you to do."_

The teen nodded, going into his bathroom for a shower.

Meanwhile, Hawkmoth detransformed, and returned to his office in his office building. He walked over to the pile of mail on his desk and began skimming through them to find the most important ones. The first letter that caught his eye though was an application for an internship with him: From Ms. Marinette Dupain-Cheng. He opened it, and was delight to see her interest, and some of her portfolio.

He finished looking through it, and was quite amazed with her work. He then called some of his staff to inform them he was going to give her the internship, but he would inform her himself.

Before heading to the bakery to inform her parents, he first called Nathalie. A few buzzes passed, but she picked up.

" ?" she asked.

"Nathalie, how is Adrien right now? I hope he hasn't found someway to escape," he sighed with stress.

"I'll check," she stated. After a few moments, she confirmed, "Adrien just finished up his shower. Do you want me to tell him he's locked?"

"No, Nathalie. If he did try to escape, he would have already noticed. Just begin his homeschooling, but maybe try to build off of his knowledge from school instead of just going from textbook," the fashion emperor suggested.

"I'll try, sir," she accepted.

"I have the utmost confidence in you, Nathalie, so I better hear good news," he smiled before hanging up.

Gabriel then walked through his building, smiling and greeting everyone, which is quite rare for him. As he reached the entrance, he called up Gorilla to drive him to the bakery on Gottlieb Street. After the limo arrived and Gabriel entered the limo, Nooroo popped out of his coat, and started saying:

"Wow! You akumatizing Adrien has really changed you!" the kwami smiled.

"Well, it is quite nice having as good relationship with my son. I have always wish the best for him, even if he doesn't know that," the moth Miraculous holder smiled back.

"But, you do know that you are going to have to reveal your identity to him at one point," the moth reminded the man.

"I know, I know, but it has to be at a better time. I need to make sure he forgives me first before revealing myself," the designer sighed.

"That is fine, Gabriel, maybe strive for that when you meet with your son at noon," the purple spirit encouraged the adult.

They reached the bakery, so Gabriel exited the limo, Nooroo hiding in his jacket, and stroll casually into the bakery with a set of paper for Sabine and Tom to sign. As he walked in, the bakers greeted him happily:

"Good morning Gabriel. What brings you here this morning?" Sabine asked.

"I've got some good news about your daughter," he began with a smile. "I accept her application for becoming my intern." He set some forms on their counter, with a congratulation letter for Marinette to read when she returns from school.

"My goodness!" Tom cheered. "You're not fooling us, are you?" Tom questioned lightly.

"Of course I'm not," the designer continued his smile.

"Thank you so much!" Sabine exclaimed, hugging her husband tightly.

"It's no problem. Marinette is quite the designer. Her portfolio was very impressive," Gabriel complimented.

"Would you like a drink or something to eat?" Tom offered. "You may have it for free."

"No thank you, I'm fine. But I may take you up on that offer tomorrow, since I'm sure Adrien and I would love to return here for a quick lunch. Right now, I'm keeping him out of school, since he's been having emotional issues pertaining to the loss of his mother," he frowned.

"Aw, that's so sad. I've heard rumors from Marinette, but what I heard seemed devastating enough. You two must be quite close then," Sabine said sympathetically.

The fashion emperor sighed, and explained, "Well, I haven't been the best father, so we aren't very close. I've been trying my best to begin opening up to him more, so I hope he has noticed."

The couple gave the man sad, but encouraging looks. "Well, I'm sure he's noticed. Yesterday evening, you two were seemed to be having a good conversation," Tom stated.

"Well, I guess," the man sighed, but straightened back up, and stated, "Well, I should be getting back to work. I don't want there to be a fashion catastrophe." He walked over to the entrance, waved back to them, and then went right back into his limo.

He checked the time 11:00. He decided he'd spend a few more minutes at work, and then go to his lair and make it more welcoming, since he and Adrien would be spending a bit more time in there.

Over at his mansion though, Adrien was having a slightly better time with being home-schooled, since he was actually learning new information that connected to what he was learning in school. At around 11:30, Nathalie decided to give him a break. He walked up to his bedroom, slid his Miraculous on, and then called out, "Plagg!"

Plagg flew out from under the bed muttering a drowsy, "What?"

Adrien was taken back by Plagg's shade returning to midnight black. "Plagg, when did you get better?" the teenager questioned.

"I guess between eating nearly all of the Camembert in your mini-fridge and that long rest I had," the cat smiled as he stretched his back.

"Didn't I say having Camembert would heal you?" the cat Miraculous holder smirked.

"I guess you did," the cat played along smugly. "Good job on your part for mentioning it, but not on the getting yourself akumatized for over two days and making me so sick that I was nearly dead part."

"Sorry!" the model cringed apologetically. Adrien then looked over at his clock, and it read 11:45.

"Well, I'll have to get going. I want to get to Hawkmoth's early," Adrien stated. He then disappeared in a green flash, and instantly reappeared in Hawkmoth's lair which was surprisingly nicely decorated since their meeting yesterday. The floor was decorated with a black butterfly rug, there were two modern black chairs on it.

"Cool furniture. Did you ask the movers to bring it to 'Secret Lair, Evil Street?'" Hawkmoth Jr. joked, walking over to the center of the room.

"No. I just had it brought to my house, then I teleported it here," Hawkmoth explained. "Why not take a seat. It is some of the best furniture in all of Paris."

The boy sat down in one of the chairs, and was surprised at the expensive material and amazing craftsmanship. "Wow, you must be really rich to be able to buy this furniture!" the boy eyed the man taking a seat in the opposite chair.

"Well, that is a secret," the man chuckled, as he crossed his legs.

"So, what is our plan for today?" the sidekick asked cheerfully.

The supervillain sighed guiltily, knowing his son's smile my disappear later. "Adrien, my son, do you trust me?" he asked.

Adrien looked at his father-figure worriedly. "I geuss? Why do you need to ask me?"

"Because I may have you under mind-control, and I will have complete control of your voice, your body, and I may do something very risky, but if I execute it right…" he cringed in emotional pain.

"I trust you," the anti-hero stated firmly.

"What?!" the distraught adult exclaimed in surprise.

"I trust that you will do what is best," the teenager getting up and collapsing into his father's lap in an embrace.

The man gasped, but melted into his son's hug, and hugged him back.

"I love you, dad," the boy murmured, nuzzling into Hawkmoth's chest and closing his eyes.

"Nooroo, dark wings, fall," the designer said. His transformation fell, and Adrien squeezed his eyes tightly closed.

"It's fine Adrien," Gabriel softly spoke, rubbing his son's back. "You may open your eyes. I just hope you can forgive me."

Adrien squinted his eyes open, and looked down at the suit of the man under the mask. He froze in disbelief. He's seen this coat nearly everyday, and he dared not to look at the face of his true father.

"Good job. Gabriel,"a little voice told . "And Adrien…"

Nooroo flew around Gabriel so he could face Adrien.

"Hello there, Adrien. I'm Nooroo, the moth kwami," he introduced himself.

"Hi," Adrien greeted back with innocent curiosity.

"Please forgive my master. He hasn't been the most endearing and thoughtful, but he's been so consumed in bringing back your mother, that he shut everyone out until you of course became his victim," the purple creature begged.

Adrien then pulled out of the hug, and looked at his father, who was nearly in tears and was looking at the boy quite fearfully.

"Father," the model smiled, hugging the fashion emperor once again. "You didn't need to reveal yourself to me yet, you know."

"I was just quite nervous, Adrien. I don't want to lose your love if this battle doesn't go as planned," he explained.

Adrien pulled back again, and then said, "Dad, you don't need to worry. Me getting hurt is nothing to worry about, as you probably now know after I've returned from battle without scratch. The only thing you need to worry about is keeping my identity from Ladybug, and not actually taking her Miraculous during battle."

"Okay," Gabriel sighed, realizing he is finally listening to someone, and finally he sees it as an accomplishment.

"Well father, I should probably be leaving since Nathalie may be questioning my whereabouts," the teen said, getting off the villain's lap.

"She probably is," the adult chuckled.

With that, Adrien disappeared back to his bedroom, jumping into bed, as to make Nathalie think he was taking a nap.

Over at school, Marinette was freaking out to Alya, "Alya, Adrien hasn't been here all morning! What if he's sick? What if he's dying?!"

"Girl, calm down," the blogger told her best friend. "He probably just has a cold or something. He wasn't at school yesterday afternoon, but I doubt he's dying."

Ms. Mendeleev walked into the classroom and the low rumble of conversation ended.

"Good afternoon, class," she greeted. "Get your homework out and pass it to the inside." All of the students got their homework out, and passed it to the student who was closest to the inside aisle. "Today, we will be doing a lab…"

As Ms. Mendeleev continued on about the lab, Marinette zoned out, and looked out the window and the buildings across the road. She saw a strange, black butterfly flutter past the window, and thought to herself, "Hey that one looks like an akuma," but then she paused, and realized, "It is an akuma." As the teacher passes out labs, Marinette raised her hand.

" , may I use the bathroom?" she cringed.

"Fine, but be quick," the teacher said, continuing to pass out labs.

Marinette ran down to the bathroom, into a stall, and then let Tikki out of her purse.

"Tikki, I think I just saw an akuma fly by," she informed the kwami.

"It was, Marinette. You might as well transform now so you can find it before it causes too much damage," Tikki stated.

"Alright then, Tikki, spots on!"

Marinette went through her transform sequence, and then climbed up to the window of the bathroom, and slid out, throwing her yo-yo so it would catch her before she fell on story. The hero didn't have to search since a crowd singing, "Ladybug, come on out," like it was a big song in a musical.

"There she is!" one sung like a fanfare, making the rest look over two beats later, walking in her direction.

She began dashing the other way while continuously watch the musical mob, but she then ran into someone and nearly fell, but was caught.

"Hello there, my lady," Cat Noir smirked flirtily.

"Hello there, kitty," the bug greeted, weaving her way out of his arms. "It looks like this musical is missing its lead. Have you seen them?" she asked.

"I have. She calls herself Melodiva," the other hero explained, noticing the mob climbing the building they were on and grabbing Ladybug's wrist to swing her out of the way.

"Thanks, Cat," the heroine thanked, grabbing his wrist and dashing away.

The chorus began singing a dark theme about getting their Miraculouses. As they reached a climax in the song, an akuma with long blonde hair, a long blue dress decorated with lines of music notes dancing across her dress appeared with a dark grin singing, "Hello there Cat Noir and Ladybug. I welcome you to my musical which you'll fit in quite snug. I carry many surprises as your lead actress, and by the end I'll at least have one of your Miraculous."

As her solo ended, her eyes turned bright green, and she shot lasers which appeared to be the way she hypnotized all of those civilians. Ladybug spun her yo-yo into a shield, and Cat Noir tried to spin his staff into a shield, but it was "too late." The laser hit him, and he froze in place. A purple outline appeared on Melodiva, and she looked like she was about to respond, but she was suddenly also frozen in place, with all of her minions.

Ladybug looked at them worriedly, especially Cat, but the moment passed as everyone began moving in sync. Moth outlines appeared on Melodiva and Cat, as they began speaking in sync. "Hello there, Ladybug," they spoke.

"Hawkmoth," Ladybug glared.

"It's been awhile since we have spoken," the two akumas smiled only slightly cynically.

"Why are you speaking to me? You haven't spoken to me since Stoneheart, or as I recall, your first attack," the heroine questioned suspectingly.

"My first attack? You think that is my first time using akuma. You are quite wrong about that," they chuckled.

"What are you talking about?" the girl inquired agitatedly.

"You may be surprised, but I've been a superhero before I used akumas for darker deeds," the voice of a deep voice said from behind her.

She turned around, seeing the villain in his dark suit standing properly with his cane in hand, and gasped, "Hawkmoth."

"It's a pleasure to me you Ladybug, well in suit of course," he smiled, but then continued. "I used to fight the predecessors of you and your feline friend over there with a little gang of other superheroes," he recollected, slowly walking towards her.

"So this is all about revenge to you?" the teen glared at him with disgust, continuously stepping back.

"Of course not," the adult replied. "I'm doing this for my wife who was killed by Cat Noir." The man kept walking at her.

"So it's still revenge," Ladybug sighed angrily, walking between her partner and the frozen akuma.

"No, it's about resurrection. She is everything to me. She was perfect and loving, though a bit stubborn. Probably the same traits Cat Noir sees in you."

She was taken aback. She never truly thought about what Cat Noir sees in her, but she pushed those thoughts aside. After pacing backwards multiple feet, she noticed Hawkmoth had stopped, _right next to Cat Noir_.

The man grabbed Cat Noir's wrist, and disappeared.

"No!" she screamed. How had she been so careless, just letting Hawkmoth take her partner away like that, she scolded herself. She began tearing up and crying, but the akuma began to move once more, so all she could to do honor her partner was to fight this akuma for him.

Back in the lair, Hawkmoth appeared with Cat Noir's wrist in his hand. The boy looked extremely exhausted from being under his control for those fifteen minutes, so he picked him up and carried him to a chair, put him down, and then finally released his mind control of his son.

"What?" the boy asked dazily, rubbing his head. "How did I get back here?"

"I brought you back," his father replied. "I had a long conversation with Ladybug, and then teleported back with you."

The anti-hero nodded, but then his eyes were full of worry. "What did Ladybug think?! Does she know that I'm akumatized or that I'm in league with you?!"

"Don't worry, Adrien. All she knows is that I took you. She most likely expects that your Miraculous was taken." The teenager nodded back. "So, my son, would you allow me to take your Miraculous? I'll treat your kwami nicely," the man asked, and the boy replied, "Sure. Just watch out: Plagg is a brat," before handing Hawkmoth his ring.

Hawkmoth put the ring on, and Plagg spawned in air. "Huh?" the kwami mumbled, slowly looking up at the moth Miraculous holder who wore the kwami's according jewelry before unamusedly saying, "Hello, Gabe."

 **A/N: Hello again. I hope you've enjoyed it. I'm not so sure this will be the permanent result, since I've written a lot of this late at night. Maybe you can give me some tips on how to improve this chapter in the reviews, or of course you can give me any positive comments you'd like to give.**


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: Well, hello again readers! I'm glad to have gotten such great comments in the past few days! I was quite inspired by all of your excitement for the next chapter, that I decided to write it all morning. Well, I won't keep you waiting, enjoy!**

After Cat Noir was taken, Ladybug hunkered down her emotions so they wouldn't get the best of her. Melodiva unfroze and began firing lasers at her, but it seemed the akuma was weak.

"Chat must be distracting Hawkmoth," the hero gasped softly.

Suddenly, the outline appeared, and Melodiva became much stronger. Her minions unfroze, and they began singing a new song about there being no where else to go for Ladybug. The civilians began surrounding Ladybug, but she was able to avoid them for the most part. After only a few seconds, the girl began getting very overwhelmed. The chorus members began enclosing on her, but just as she was going to get hit by a laser, a gloved hand grabbed her wrist, and the whole scene disappeared. She reappeared in an alley decently close to the battleground, but hidden.

She looked up at the person who saved her, and he was dressed identically as Hawkmoth, except his mask was smaller, letting his neat blonde hair get blown by the light breeze. A light blush appeared on her face, as she realized she was staring.

"Hello," she greeted coolly.

"Hello," the boy greeted back with a light smile which faded into sadness.

"Thanks for saving me there. I'm so irresponsible for letting my partner be taken away like that, and I'm nothing without him," the girl thanked but then lamented.

"You shouldn't say that," the villain-looking teen consoled.

"Why shouldn't I?" the bug began to cry violently.

"Because you will win this battle," the boy smiled. "If you need another breather, I'll be here to pull you out. And by the way, I'm Hawkmoth Jr. Don't worry, I'm not like Hawkmoth, or even in league with him," he introduced with a convincing smile and his hand extended out.

"Nice to meet you, Hawkmoth Jr. I'm Ladybug. And yes, I might need a bit of help now that Cat's gone," the girl stuttered, trying to get herself together as she shook the opposite teen's hand.

"Now, let's get back to battle. I'll help you along, though I don't have powers like you or Cat Noir, so I can use this cane…" A cane appeared in his hand, "and I can use my powers to teleport."

"Good," Ladybug nodded, her tears finally dried. "Let's get back to battle."

Hawkmoth Jr. grabbed her wrist, and they appeared on the ground in front of the chorus of hypnotized civilians. Melodiva noticed Ladybug, so she ordered her supporters to attack her. The akuma slowly flew down at them, and began shooting lasers, which they easily dodged.

"Do you know where the akuma is located?" Ladybug asked her "new" partner.

"I think it's in her necklace," Hawkmoth Jr. replied, pointing at the quarter note necklace she wore.

"Good thinking," Ladybug complimented. "Lucky Charm!" she cheered. A spray bottle with a fan fell down into her hands, "What do I do with this?" she thought, her mind still quite overwhelmed from the earlier events of the battle.

"Thrown it over here!" the fancily dressed boy called. She threw the spray bottle over just as Melodiva approached them.

"Come here, Ladybug, I will catch you soon. What happened to Cat Noir will also be your doom," she sang.

The akuma landed on the ground, and Hawkmoth Jr. ran at her, though she didn't notice.

"Over here!" he called. She looked over, and he began spraying and blowing her in the face.

"No! My makeup!" she cried, covering her face as Hawkmoth Jr. tore the necklace off her. He clasped two hands around it, and as he opened them back up, the akuma flew out.

Ladybug didn't stay stunned for too long, as she spun her yo-yo, cheering, "Time to deevilize!" The akuma was swept out of the air, as she cheered, "Gotcha!" Within seconds, she released the akuma happily saying, "Bye-bye little butterfly!"

As the butterfly flew away, a teenage girl was shaking her head to get out of a daze, and then she saw Ladybug.

"Ladybug, what happened? Where's Cat Noir?" she questioned.

"Everything's better, other than that." She paused before continuing. "Cat Noir's gone. He was taken by Hawkmoth," she sighed sadly.

A mob of journalists and reporters began to surround Ladybug, asking her about Cat Noir and the mysterious Hawkmoth-like boy. She looked around for Hawkmoth Jr. so she could answer questions better, but he was nowhere to be seen.

"Well, Cat Noir's now gone," she sighed. "So, it's up to me to protect Paris now, but who knows maybe that boy may help me like he did today," she explained as her Miraculous began to beep.

Ladybug swung away, into the alley that she and Hawkmoth Jr. introduced themselves. Her transformation wore off, and Tikki flew out of her earrings, exhausted.

"Here, Tikki," Marinette said as she handed Tikki a cookie from her bag. She sat down, and leaned against the wall as the kwami ate. "Hey, Tikki, what do you think of Hawkmoth Jr.?" the girl asked.

"Hmm," the lucky spirit thought as she chewed. She swallowed, and then replied, "I think it was quite nice of him to save you there."

"But should I trust him? Is he even a Miraculous holder?" the designer worried.

"I don't think you should worry about that right now," Tikki suggested. "He saved you, and even if he doesn't have a real Miraculous."

"What do you mean by a not a 'real' Miraculous," the teen worried.

"When the ancients began making Miraculouses, they weren't always successful, especially with the moth Miraculous, so the brooch that Hawkmoth Jr. wears may be an incomplete one with most of the powers of Hawkmoth, but not all of them," the kwami fluently lied.

"That's cool," Marinette smiled in amazement. "So, I should trust him?"

Tikki nodded, hiding her nervousness.

"Good," Marinette smiled as she got up and headed back home.

When she got home, she was welcomed with cheers from her parents.

"Ah!" she screamed from being startled. She looked at her parents' excited faces and asked, "What happened?" They handed her a paper which read:

"Hello, Marinette. This is a letter informing you that I, Gabriel Agreste have accepted you to be my intern. I was very impressed with your portfolio, as well as your dedication to your work. I would like you to meet Adrien after school, so my limo driver can drop you off at my office building where I will give you a tour. I am looking forward to teaching, and working with you.

- _Gabriel Agreste"_

"Oh my goodness!" Marinette gasped. "I got accepted!"

She ran over and hugged her parents before running upstairs and diving onto her bed.

"Good job, Marinette!" Tikki exclaimed, popping out of the purse.

"I can't believe it!" the girl cheered. "And it also means that I get to spend more time with Adrien!"

Just as the teenager was going to daydream about spending time with Adrien, her phone rang. She ran over as saw that Alya was facetiming her, so she answered.

"Marinette, did you see that battle today?" Alya spoke with urgency.

"Well, I only saw bits of it…"

"Did you hear? Cat Noir was taken by Hawkmoth," she informed her friend sadly

"Yeah," Marinette sighed, trying to hide her guilt.

"Did you also see the new guy that helped Ladybug? He looked just like Hawkmoth," journalist exclaimed, showing Marinette of a zoomed in picture of him.

"Yeah, I also saw that," the designer answered while looking at the picture.

"Do you think he's an evil akuma or something?" Alya wondered.

"I don't think so," Marinette replied. "I heard of some 'fake' Miraculouses that were prototypes of the real deal, so I think he may have one."

"Huh? Who did you hear that from?" the girl asked.

"Uh! Some person online. They were anonymous!" Marinette lied.

"Huh," Alya replied skeptically. "Don't always trust anonymous sources, Marinette. You should only believe in reliable source."

"Like you," Marinette teased.

Alya was about to comment back, but Marinette's parents called up to her to tell her dinner was ready.

"Sorry Alya, I have to go, see ya" she shrugged.

"See you, Marinette,"

The hero hung up, and went downstairs to dinner.

After dinner, Marinette realized she couldn't do homework since her bag was left at school, so instead she went up onto her roof, looking out over Paris. She thought about not doing patrol tonight, seeing that Cat was gone, but she couldn't leave Paris defenseless after having two akumas two days in a row so she let Tikki out of her bag, and unenthusiastically said, "Spots on."

The remaining hero lazily swung across Paris over to the Eiffel Tower. She landed on a lower level than usual, but Paris was below her all the same. With a sigh, she sat down, looking over Paris and wondering what really happened to her partner. Was his civilian self looking up at her longingly? Or was he imprisoned in some warehouse on the edge of the city? All the same, Ladybug sat there in the city of love alone, with no one to speak to.

"Getting a bit lonely up here?" a voice which sounded quite similar to Cat's spoke from behind her. She whipped around in surprise, and saw Hawkmoth Jr. standing behind her with a small smile.

"Hello there," she greeted nervously. "What brings you here?"

"You looked lonely. I couldn't let a hero who had such a loss today spend her night in her lonesome," he answered, sitting down next to her. "I'm quite sorry for your loss. If you ever need, I can be here for you, seeing that Cat can't."

"Thank you for the offer," she smiled back weakly.

"It looks like you really cared for him," the boy next to her pointed out, scooting slightly over.

"Well, I guess I cared for him, but not in way that he wished for me to…"

"How did he wish you cared for him?" the neat blonde teen asked.

"He had quite the crush on me, but I just couldn't love him back. There's a boy at my school who I really like named Adrien, and I'd feel so guilty to be in a relationship while I like someone else," the black-haired girl explained.

The boy seemed to be surprised, but the expression softened into a smile. "That's sweet," he commented. "Have you told this boy you like that you like him?"

"No," the bug sighed. "I can't even seem to talk to him, since every time I try, I always mess it up, or can't even talk."

Hawkmoth Jr. paused for a moment. "Did you ever tell Cat Noir about this issue?" he questioned carefully.

"No. We kept a tight policy on not revealing information from our civilian lives," she informed him.

"And what about that policy now?" the teen in the tux asked.

"What do you mean?" the teen in the tight suit asked back.

"I mean, you are telling me quite a lot of information about your civilian life, but why?"

She paused and thought for a moment. "Well, I guess it's because Cat had a crush on me, and, I couldn't bear breaking his heart." Her eyes started welling up in tears.

Behind the mask, Adrien was so saddened. His lady really did care for him, and he could barely bear seeing her so down. He scooted slightly closer once more, and slowly began to give her a hug, just in case she would reject, but she surprisingly didn't. He hung his head over her shoulder as she cried into his jacket.

They stayed in that position for a few minutes before Ladybug calmed down, and pulled away, looking up at the 'new' hero. Hawkmoth Jr. carefully moved his hand to her cheek to wipe away her tears. Ladybug suddenly felt something warm inside, and a blush came to her face.

"Well, I think I should go," the spotted hero said. "It's quite late."

"Good-bye then," Hawkmoth Jr. smile, wishing to kiss her hand, but resisted, since he couldn't reveal himself to Ladybug in anyway after how many times she's rejected him.

Ladybug got up, and then swung away across Paris. She landed back at her house, and said, "Spots off," as she noticed her blush.

"Well, that was a nice evening," Tikki grinned at her Miraculous holder as they climbed down the stairs. "It looks like someone has found another boy of interest."

Marinette blushed harder, but then shook her head. "No. I like Adrien," she said.

"Do you?" the kwami accused slightly.

"Of course, I've loved him since the first day of school, and since I got this Miraculous," Marinette claimed.

"Are you trying to convince me, or are you trying to convince yourself, Marinette?" Tikki chuckled.

The girl blushed even more, but just climbed into and covered her face with a pillow.

 **A/N: So, I've finally added some love square in, though this situation makes it just a bit more complicated. I hope you enjoyed this chapter. If you have any questions or comments, I'd be glad to take them.**


	10. Chapter 10

The next day, Marinette headed off to school with a smile on her face. When she reached school, Alya ran over to her, handed her her bag, and exclaimed, "Did you hear about last night?"

"No. What happened?" the blogger's best friend asked.

"That Hawkmoth Jr. guy, came to Ladybug's patrol. And it looks like he's getting cozy with her," she pointed out in the picture of them hugging, and then the one when Hawkmoth Jr. wiped away her tears.

"No, he was just trying to comfort her, since her Cat Noir is gone," she said, with a blush which was gladly barely noticeable.

"Well, we'll see," the journalist grinned.

They walked into class, and saw Adrien grinning in his seat.

"Hey, Adrien," Alya called as she passed by.

"Hey Alya, hey Marinette," he greeted the girls.

Nino then walked in, and cheered, "Hey, look who's back out of the blues!"

"Hey dude," Adrien greeted back.

"So what happened to your hair and eyes, and did things get better with your pops?" the DJ asked.

"The dye I used was the wash out kind, and I just had on some contacts, and yeah! My dad has been much better to me, and he apologized for once!" the boy exclaimed excitedly.

"Great dude! I'm so happy for you!" Nino congratulated.

walked into the classroom, and greeted the students. She then continued on about what they were learning that day. Marinette once again began daydreaming, about Adrien, but this time, Hawkmoth Jr. was there, but gladly, called her name, and Marinette snapped out of the dream and exclaimed, "Here!"

Class was quite boring as usual, and Marinette often was caught staring off into the back of Adrien's head. They were learning about the French Revolution in more depth, since they were of course told about it when they were younger, but every other year they taught the kids the subject with more depth appropriate to their age.

The bell rang, and it was off to Phys Ed. Alya and Marinette walked down to the gym where they had some basic mats and other equipment for gymnastics set up. They walked into the locker room and changed into their clothes. Down the row of lockers, Rose and Juleka were talking:

"What happened to Lila? She hasn't been to school in days now," Rose said.

"Didn't you here?" Juleka replied. "Lila has been labelled missing. No one has seen her in the past two days. She just disappeared in the middle of the night."

"Oh! That sounds so scary!" Rose quivered.

When they exited the locker room, the coach was ready in a leotard.

"Come on students!" she called, and all of the students gathered around her.

"Today, we'll be going over some basic gymnastic poses and tumbles, like handstands, bridges, cartwheels, and somersaults," the teacher explained as she did the poses and motions, and at the end, we'll have a handstand contest to see who can hold a handstand the longest.

First, they started off with bridges. Most of the students got it, but those who couldn't either didn't have the strength or didn't have the flexibility. Next, was a forwards roll which half could do but the other half were either scared, couldn't push themselves over, or were complaining that it would ruin their hair. Next, they did cartwheels, which a third of them could do decent ones which weren't diagonal, and at the end, they did handstands. After everyone tried them, they began their contest. Alix, Kim, Nino, Alya, Adrien, and Marinette all lined up. The coach began with an, "On your mark, get ready, set, go!" Each of them got into a handstand successfully. Alya was the first to go after two and a half seconds, Nino came shortly after with five seconds. Alix and Kim glared at each other, but Kim got distracted and fell after nine seconds, and complained that Alix distracted him. After about twelve seconds, Alix finally fell down, and both Adrien and Marinette were left, not moving and looking quite stable.

"Go Marinette!" Alya cheered. "You can do it!"

"Go Adrien!" Nino cheered. "You got this dude!"

"Go Adrikins!" Chloe cheered, then discouraged Marinette with a, "I bet you're getting weak, Marinette, so just fall already!"

The two stood there for nearly a minute with no sign of falling, so the coach called an end to the contest, and everyone cheered for them as they landed back on the ground.

"Wow, Marinette! You did a really great job!" Adrien complimented her.

"Uh, thanks! Too you, I mean, you too!' Marinette stuttered.

"Thank you," he smiled. Adrien then just remembered that Ladybug said that she liked a boy named Adrien. This teen thought it was quite impossible that it would be him, but he did think to keep an eye out on anyone who acted like Ladybug around him.

The rest of the morning was quite boring, but at lunch, there was a bit more excitement. Mr. Agreste waited in the front of the school for Adrien, since he wanted to take up Tom's offer. Adrien walked out of the front doors, and cheerfully walked over to his father.

"Hello, Adrien," the adult greeted.

"Hi, father," the boy greeted back, giving his dad a hug. "How's Plagg?"

From Gabriel's coat, the black cat poked his head out, and saluted his former holder, before hiding, since there were far too many students around for him to stay out for long without being noticed.

"As you said, he's a brat," the designer sighed, pulling a piece of Camembert out of his pocket, putting inside his hand in his jacket, pulling his hand out with nothing.

"What does Nooroo eat?" the student asked.

"Carrots," he replied.

"Well, at least it isn't Camembert," Adrien chuckled.

Out of the front door, came Marinette, with Alya blabbing about her other Ladybug theories. When the young designer reached the bottom of the steps, Mr. Agreste called her over.

"Yes, Mr. Agreste?" she asked curiously.

"Adrien and I are going to have lunch at your bakery again, I was wondering if we can accompany you back there," the fashion emperor asked.

"Oh, of course!" she smiled, beginning to lead them over to bakery.

When they reached the bakery after a few minutes, they entered, and Marinette ran over to her parents, gave them a hug before she went back upstairs. Gabriel and Adrien walked over to the menu, and started contemplating what they should eat. They then ordered, and a few minutes later were given food.

As they sat down and began eating, out of the corner of his eye, Gabriel spotted a blur of orange dive down behind a nearby trash can. He looked closer, and it appeared to be Volpina. The next moment, he saw her run across the street getting closer to bakery, and then she kicked the door open and smirked.

"Well, I'm tired of just being ordered to sit in the shadows by Hawkmoth, so it's time to have some fun!" she cackled, strutting over to Adrien, and grabbing his wrist before trying to drag him out of the bakery.

"Adrien!" Gabriel called to his son, truly not expecting the attack.

The man ran outside, but Volpina was once more dragging Adrien away, but this time, for real. He heard a sound from behind him, like a magical swoosh, and then from above him he saw Ladybug jump off the balcony of the bakery, swinging after Adrien. Gabriel gasped. Thinking about it, Marinette looked quite like Ladybug. At this point, he didn't mull over it, since his son was in danger. He ran to an alley, and both of the kwami flew out of his jacket.

"So, Gabe, whatcha gonna do?" the black cat asked worriedly.

"I'm not sure. This has never happened before," he worried, keeping his eye on his son, getting closer and closer to the Eiffel Tower.

"I suggest you transforming into Hawkmoth first, but if things become dangerous, transform into Cat Noir as well," Nooroo suggested. "This is quite a tedious situation."

"Fine," Gabriel agreed, calling out his transformation, and turning into Hawkmoth in a dark blur.

Meanwhile, Marinette was in her room, getting everything ready for afterschool when she heard a crash from downstairs, and then she saw Adrien being dragged by Volpina once more.

"Tikki, Volpina's back!" the girl gasped squeezing her face up against the window.

"I know Marinette I saw," the bug replied.

"Come on. We need to follow them," she stated focusedly furiously climbing up her ladder to the balcony. "Tikki, Spots on!" she called, and with a magical swoosh, she transformed, and then leapt away after Volpina.

After chasing them for a minute, they reached the Eiffel tower once again, and Adrien was dangling from Volpina's hand, looking very scared.

"Not again," the hero muttered to herself.

"Volpina, I know your tricks. Adrien isn't dangling from your hand!" Ladybug called up.

"Hmm, do you think I'd really to the same trick twice, who knows, maybe this one is real," the akuma chuckled cynically, swinging Adrien around.

From below her, Ladybug heard a familiar crying. She let her curiosity roam, as she jumped down a floor to see Cat Noir crying.

The other hero looked up at Ladybug and cried, "Ladybug, I've missed you so much! Please help me! Hawkmoth just made me transform, and he can now teleport me away with at his own will. Please, Ladybug!"

The black-spotted heroine gasped, and approached the boy, but the cat disappeared in a blur.

"Cat," the girl remorsed. She didn't know what to think.

From above her, Adrien desperately called, "Ladybug, please! This time it isn't fake! That Cat Noir was fake! Please!"

He looked up at Volpina who was smirking with pride.

"You know, I didn't give you this order," Adrien whispered angrily up at her, a green outline appearing over both of their faces.

"I know," the villain cackled. "After I get rid of you, I can then get rid of Hawkmoth, and then I'd be able to roam free and I take over the world."

At that moment, Volpina let go. Adrien began to fall fast down to the ground, and Ladybug only peaked her head over the edge, fully believing Adrien was an illusion this time.

"Ladybug!" Adrien screamed, trying to figure out what to do. Everything was happening so fast, that he couldn't comprehend it. He was literally eating lunch with his dad at the bakery a few minutes ago, and now he was falling from the Eiffel Tower.

After a few more seconds of falling, he felt himself landing in what felt like arms.

"Adrien," he heard his father's voice speak, as they reappeared on the level Ladybug was standing on.

Ladybug turned around speedily, and growled "Hawkmoth, give Cat back!", swinging her yo-yo threateningly.

"I can't Ladybug, but we have more important things to talk about, like letting a boy nearly fall to his death," he hissed angrily as he put Adrien down, whom then ran behind a beam and transformed.

"Oh, so now you care about the welfare of Parisians," the bug snickered.

"I'm not so determined to get your Miraculous as to let anyone die due to it!" Hawkmoth yelled at the teen furiously. "This akuma is no longer under my control and is wanting to take over the world, a goal much darker than what I want from your Miraculous."

"Then what about Cat, is he safe?!" the girl hissed, but before she could get a reply, Hawkmoth lifted his cane, and swatted by Ladybug's ear. "What was that-"

Behind her, she saw Volpina who was shaking her wrist out.

"Ladybug, purify her akuma," Hawkmoth ordered.

"But-"

The fox lifted her flute, and dozens of illusions appeared.

"Ladybug, trust me for this once. Our goals are the same momentarily," he stated.

Ladybug didn't reply, but at that moment, Hawkmoth Jr. revealed himself, and began swatting at the illusions with his cane as Ladybug swung her yo-yo eliminating a good number of illusions. Hawkmoth tensed up, made an outline appear on his face, and then noticed the coordinating Volpina standing next to him, reaching for his ring.

"Heroes, she's right here," the man called to the two stepping away from the akuma, and disappearing.

"Hawkmoth Jr, get her necklace!" she ordered.

The boy nodded, and ran behind Volpina, grabbed her necklace, and snapped it apart, letting the green and purple akuma free.

She swung her yo-yo, and caught the akuma, saying her usual catchphrases. After releasing the butterfly she walked over to Hawkmoth Jr, and sighed deeply. "What the heck just happened?!"

"I have no idea, but at least we know Hawkmoth isn't totally heartless," he shrugged. "I'm sorry I wasn't here for a while. I had to escape my civilian life," he apologized.

"Uh, Ladybug?" Lila asked nervously. "What just happened?"

"You seemed to have been akumatized for quite a long time," Hawkmoth Jr. explained.

"Who are you?!" Lila gave a disgusted look at the boy.

"I'm Hawkmoth Jr. Don't worry, I'm not in any way related to Hawkmoth," he smiled in relief that she doesn't remember him.

"Where's Cat Noir?" she inquired, looking around.

Ladybug froze in place as guilt grew on her face.

"Hawkmoth took his Miraculous," Hawkmoth Jr. explained with slight remorse. "I'm helping Ladybug, since I happen to have superpowers, and she needs someone to help her."

"So you're a replacement," she stated plainly.

"Um, I guess?" the akuma powered teen cringed, looking over at Ladybug.

"He's helping me for now, and is going to help me get Cat Noir back," Ladybug explained further.

"Okay?" Lila looked at the to strangely, before walking over to the elevator.

"So, Ladybug where were we... Oh! I was apologizing for not being here for most of the battle," the fancily dressed hero continued.

"Don't worry about it," Ladybug shuttered, sitting down against a beam, and stared in anguish. "I really need to get myself back together. I can't believe I let Adrien Agreste fall to near death. First I let Cat get taken away, next I nearly have the love of my life nearly die on my watch."

Hawkmoth Jr. was shocked excited by this information. Really, the Adrien she like was Adrien Agreste?! This would aid in his plan immensely, but he mustn't reveal himself too soon.

"Ladybug," the boy said softly, walking over and taking her hands off her head, and holding them carefully in his hands. "You've probably been overwhelmed with the number of akumas that have happened within the past three days. Please don't take this battle to heart. The villain was so bad that Hawkmoth was on your side," Hawkmoth Jr. explained. "Just enjoy the rest of your day. I can watch over Paris tonight so you can get some rest."

She nodded, and got up. The designer nodded, and said, "Thank you," before swing back to her house to get her school stuff again. Adrien stood their for a moment and sighed, wishing he could tell Ladybug the truth, but he decided he shouldn't linger on that thought and teleported himself to Hawkmoth's lair.

When he appeared there, he saw his father with his elbows on his knees and his hands on his head. The model walked nervously over to his father.

"Adrien," Gabriel began. "I can't believe I nearly lost you today. It's all my fault," the man pouted.

"Dad, don't worry. It was not your fault. Volpina being akumatized for a while probably just corrupted her mind," the child tried to comfort the adult.

"Well, I won't be making any more akumas for a while, well at least this weekend," the designer sighed.

"That sounds fine. I'm just worried about Ladybug. I hope she will be okay, after losing me, and then nearly losing me again," the boy stated worriedly.

"Don't worry, my son. You can tell me when she has recovered." Gabriel got up and hugged his son. "Now, next time, when you're in danger, use your powers to get yourself out."

"Even if it means revealing myself?" the teenager cringed.

"Yes."

"Of course, sir," Adrien nodded nervously. "Oh, and dad, guess what I learned!" Adrien perked up with cheer.

"What is that?"

"Ladybug is in love with my civilian form!" he cheered.

"Are you sure? She let you fall for more than a hundred feet," Hawkmoth Sr. eyed his son doubtfully.

"I'm extremely sure," he assured. "She called me the love of her life!"

Gabriel smiled. "That is great news, Adrien! I just hope she isn't an ignorant fangirl."

 **A/N: I hope you enjoyed the chapter. I'm nearly through the next chapter so the next update will be in a week or so.**


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: Good afternoon, readers. I changed my summary a bit, but that's because let's face it, most of us Miraculous fans come to fanfic for the romantic fics of Adrien and Marinette, and I wanted to advertise that there will be romance in the story. Enjoy the chapter!**

After school, Gabriel waited inside the limo for Marinette and Adrien. He saw the two walking together with two other friends, that one he made the Lady Wifi, and the other who was the Bubbler. They slowly approached the limo, but Gabriel was noticing something strange about Marinette's interactions with Adrien. Marinette was stuttering, and she clearly had blush on her face.

"Isn't that a coincidence," the designer said aloud to himself softly. "Or not."

Gorilla opened the door for the two of them, Marinette entering first.

"Oh, Mr. Agreste, good afternoon!" she greeted cheerfully.

"Good afternoon, Ms. Dupain-Cheng," he greeted back.

"Hello, father," Adrien smiled as he saw his father.

"Hello, Adrien," the man greeted.

"Where's Nathalie?" Adrien asked.

"She's attending to duties back at the mansion," the fashion emperor explained.

The car started moving.

"May ask where we are going?" Marinette asked.

"Yes, we are going to my office building," Gabriel answered. "It is where my designers create all of the pieces you see in the magazines."

Marinette smiled eagerly.

A few minutes later, they reached the building. Marinette looked up at it in awe. As Gorilla opened the doors, Gabriel got out first so he could lead the two teens, and then Adrien offered Marinette to go out next.

The adult led them through the door with a black butterfly design, and over to the elevator. He after describing the first floor, he concluded with saying there wasn't anything significant about the first floor other than it being for tourists. He then described the second floor, and showed the girl the most important parts before doing that with every floor. Finally, Gabriel brought them to the top floor where his office was. He led the two in, and let them take a seat.

"So, this is my office where I design and run this company. We just past your office which is right next to mine. You have a sewing machine, mannequins, and anything you need to do the projects I ask of you."

"What kind of projects will you be giving me?" the hero in disguise asked curiously.

"Well for example with the first project I'm going to give, I want you to create a set of semi-formal attire inspired by our local heroes and villains including Ladybug, Cat Noir, Hawkmoth, and an akumatized villain of your choosing. I'm not going to give you a strict deadline for your project, since the amount of schoolwork you receive may vary or increase," the villain in disguise explained, handing his intern a paper with rough references of Ladybug, Cat Noir, and Hawkmoth.

Marinette didn't know what to feel about this project, since there could be dangers involving her identity, but she was probably the best person in Paris to be given that project.

Gabriel then dismissed her back to her office, and so as she exited his office she turned left, and there was a purple colored room with a desk and a chair in one corner, another desk with a sewing machine on it in the opposite corner, and few file cabinets lining the walls with some mannequins. She grinned her widest grin as she jogged over to her empty desk where she set her school stuff down. After getting over her excitement, she proceeded to pull out her sketchbook and begin with making a short Ladybug dress.

After Marinette left the room, Gabriel began talking with his son.

"So, son. We are back into doing your normal schedule with all of your activities and photoshoots. Are you fine with that?" the father asked.

"Yes, dad," the boy nodded.

"Did you find anyone who may fit being Ladybug's secret identity?"

"I'm not entirely sure. I don't just want to assume and be wrong," he explained.

"Well I'm sure with time, she'll get become more obvious," the man encouraged.

"I guess…" Adrien sighed doubtfully.

After a few minutes of sketching Ladybug, Marinette then went on to Cat Noir, but her hand froze.

"Marinette," Tikki said.

"What, Tikki?" the student questioned.

"You know, maybe you should take a break, and go and apologize to Adrien after letting him fall," Tikki suggested.

"But," Marinette began, her eyes instantly began watering.

"But what Marinette?" the kwami asked.

"But I'm at work, and he's with his dad and… What if he doesn't forgive me?" she asked, sniffling.

Tikki smiled sympathetically at Marinette, and confidently replied, "I don't think that will happen."

The girl looked at her kwami doubtfully.

"If you ask me, I think he idolizes you as Ladybug, Marinette, and if he did have any doubts after the fall, you visiting him would clear them away."

Marinette sniffled one more time before getting up. "Okay, Tikki. Spots on!"

She walked over to her door, peeked out, seeing no one in sight to question why Ladybug was exiting Marinette's windowless office, and walked out. She feebly approached Mr. Agreste's door, and knocked. She waited, and Adrien opened it, shocked to see her.

"Ah, Ladybug, come in, I guess," he said, opening the door more.

"Hello, Ladybug," Gabriel Agreste greeted, slightly surprised. "I wasn't notified that you were coming. What brings you here?"

"I came through a window," she answered first. "I'm here to apologize to Adrien, and I guess you too for letting him nearly die." Her breathe was clearly unsteady, which Gabriel noted.

"Come, sit down, Ladybug," her boss stated with concern.

She sat down, and let out a deep breathe. "I'm so sorry for how careless I was," she apologized, tears welling in her eyes. "I shouldn't have gotten distracted by that illusion of Cat. I just, don't know if you could ever forgive me, Adrien, for putting your life on the line, and Mr. Agreste, for putting your only son's life in danger."

She was clearly crying at that point, so Adrien walked over to her, pulled her out of the chair, and hugged her. The hero froze. Adrien was actually hugging her!

"Ladybug, I forgive you. You were dealing with the sadness of losing Cat Noir. I'm fine now, and I'm glad Hawkmoth came to my rescue," he smiled at her, pulling back to look at her as she blushed. He took the opportunity to sneak a kiss on the cheek. And he saw her blush get even redder.

She was completely frozen, but was unfrozen by Gabriel saying, "Ladybug, now that that is settled, I forgive for putting my son in danger. He's had a thing for you for quite a while."

Marinette looked at Adrien, and the boy blushed intensely, looking away from his idol.

"Well...I've thing had… I mean, thing I've… I mean, I've had a thing for him for a while too," she stuttered, finally getting her act together at the end.

Gabriel smiled, devising a small plan. "Ladybug, if you'd like, you may meet with Adrien during his free time, since it seems you two share common feelings for each other," he grinned.

"What?" Adrien gasped, extremely surprised.

"Well, if it's too much..." Ladybug began to Adrien.

"No. Ladybug, I've cared about you for so long, and I'd really like to get to know you, if you'd let me," the model tried to convince.

The heroine was stuck. If she got too close to someone with her mask, they may figure out her identity, and if they know her identity, Hawkmoth may threaten them in order to find her.

"I just can't. If anyone figures out my identity, then Hawkmoth…"

"Hawkmoth what? Do you think he'd hurt Adrien? He clearly stated that he doesn't want to hurt anyone to get your Miraculous," the designer rebutted.

Ladybug sighed, and she gave up. "Sure, I'll 'meet' Adrien when he's free."

Adrien cheered, "Yes!" He then continued, "So, Ladybug, would you like to be my girlfriend?"

She shyly nodded, and Adrien hugged her, nearly squeezing her to death.

After the model released her, the young designer said, "I should be off now. I have schoolwork to do." She walked out of the room closed the door, and dashed into her office before they could follow her.

 **A/N: I hope you enjoyed the chapter. I'm nearly done with chapter 13 of my fic, so if you really want me to post soon, tell me, and I'd be glad. I have a lot in store for the cute couple coming up.**


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: So, seeing that I'm ahead, I might as well post this chapter now. Thank you to everyone who is following this fic, technically following or just reading this fic when ever it pops up in the first few pages. This chapter is somewhat of a filler since I'm jumping around a lot, but it'll be worth it at the end. Enjoy!**

After getting back home, Marinette had dinner and immediately went to bed after having such a tiring three days. Adrien, on the other hand, couldn't sleep. He was overjoyed. Ladybug was actually his girlfriend! Who would have thought it'd be like that?

After dinner, Adrien finished up his homework, and turned into Hawkmoth Jr. He disappeared, and appeared on the Eiffel Tower, looking down at the city of love.

"My lady is down there," the boy thought out loud. "I already miss her."

" _Adrien. Would you like a little excitement? I could send another akuma,"_ his father offered.

"I can't. I wouldn't want my lady to be awoken, and she'd have to be the one to cleanse the akuma," the son refused.

" _But, why not I come over there, and we can fool the press, so they truly believe we are not affiliated,"_ Hawkmoth offered more.

"Well, I guess you'll keep offering, so I'll accept," Hawkmoth Jr. sighed.

With a flash, Hawkmoth appeared behind him, so Adrien turned around, and the fake argument began.

Early in the morning, Marinette woke up, to Alya Facetiming her. The girl lazily picked up her phone, answered, and turned on some light.

"Alya, what time is it?!" Marinette moaned.

"Well, it's around six, but I got some really big news!" the reporter reported excitedly.

Marinette gave a wordless groan, and Alya continued.

"Well, it looks like your theory might be right. Last night, Hawkmoth Jr. was doing patrol instead of Ladybug, and from some of the audio I found, Hawkmoth called him fake and weak," Alya. "Also, Hawkmoth didn't seem to like him, so that sort of proves that Hawkmoth Jr. isn't evil," her best friend rambled.

"Good for you Alya, but I'm tired and want more sleep," Marinette yawned, laying back down, and hanging up.

Marinette dozed off for about two more minutes before she officially got up, not waking up her kwami, and started getting ready for her day. She quickly showered, got dressed, and with the extra time worked on her project for Mr. Agreste. Once again, the designer froze when she saw the reference of her partner. _How could she have let him get taken away so easily? She should have explained her feelings about liking someone else to him._

Her mind soon became fully occupied with her regrets about Cat Noir, and she just curled up in a ball as tears streamed down her face. _How could she replace him with someone else immediately after he left? Why was she such a mess?_ Her throat stiffened and her pout turned into a sob.

Over in the Agreste Mansion, Gabriel sat in his office, not able to sleep, talking to Nooroo.

"Master, you've changed so much. You may soon even use your Miraculous properly once again, if you want, to help people with their negative feelings and cheer them up!" Nooroo suggested.

"Nooroo, when would I even be able to do that again? I'm known as the evil man who corrupts people. Would people even trust me?" the adult worried.

"Well, you've convinced people to do bad things, so I'm sure it will be even easier to convince them to do good things," the moth pointed out.

Gabriel sighed, and gained some positive spirit. "Well, when my chance comes, I'll try, but I hope Ladybug won't act harshly," the designer chuckled.

Nooroo, seemed to be thinking, but a smile grew on his face as he looked back at his master. "Well, you won't have to wait long. Marinette seems to be having some trouble with the loss of someone, and I'm sure you can go ahead and bring her optimism back."

"Fine, Nooroo. Dark wings, rise!" he chanted. He transformed, and teleported away to his lair.

"So, let's try this," he stated out loud, letting a butterfly land in his hand. He covered the butterfly up, and thought, "Help her get better." A light glow emitted from his hands, and when it was done, he peeked into his hands, surprised to see a light purple, pinkish akuma slowly moving its wings. He then released the akuma, and let it silently flutter into pastel sunrise.

The butterfly flapped its way over to Marinette's bedroom, where it fused into her sketchbook.

" _Good morning, Marinette. This is Hawkmoth,"_ the man started, but immediately felt resistance.

"Hawkmoth," she hissed as the pale purple outline appeared over her eyes. "Go away!"

Still trying, he explained himself: " _Please Marinette, I'm not here to corrupt you and make you chase after Ladybug. I only want to help you, bring back your optimism, as my kwami said. I simply want to help you, since I'm trying to change."_ He sighed as he waited for a reply.

"Really you've changed?" she growled. "Then, why don't I see Cat Noir dashing over the rooftops of Paris?"

" _Cat Noir is completely safe. He helped me in my process of changing,"_ Hawkmoth tried making half-truths. " _He agreed to give me his Miraculous if only I changed and didn't hurt others, since he seemed to empathize with the loss of my wife."_

Marinette thought over it. Of course Cat would try to make a deal with Hawkmoth, but how could or did that possibly work? Did all that Hawkmoth need to change was just some sympathy?

"What power would you even give me?" Marinette asked with doubt.

" _The power to cheer others up with magic,"_ the Miraculous holder offered unsure of what actually to give her.

"I'm sorry, Hawkmoth. But this time, even if you have changed, I can not accept. I have other duties and projects I need to focus on," she explained.

As her boss, the designer was proud that his intern put her work in front of other things, but why was her reaction to him this harsh and why does she seem to act like she believes him? He began developing suspicions, and then said, " _Well, if that is what you wish, then I will recall this akuma."_

After uncurling out of the ball she was in, she saw a pinkish, purple butterfly flutter out of her sketchbook, flying away out the window. She was baffled. Hawkmoth turning good? When did that happen? He did save Adrien, but he still has plenty to explain. Marinette went back to her sketchbook, and then decided to begin with Hawkmoth's outfit.

That morning, back at the Agreste mansion, Adrien was also awake, already prepared for the day ahead. He fell back into his bed daydreaming about Ladybug visiting him. He still couldn't believe that this was real. He got up out of his bed, and decided to go see how his father was.

He walked down out of his room, and headed over to his office.

"Hey, dad, hey Nooroo," Adrien greeted, noticing the moth was floating next to his father. "Is Plagg still asleep?"

"Good morning Adrien," the Miraculous holder greeted back. "Yes. I don't understand your kwami. As soon as things are over, I'm giving you that annoying cat back," he sighed with laughter.

Adrien chuckled along, but noticed his father seemed to be a little down.

"Dad, what's wrong?" he asked, walking over and looking up endearingly.

"I tried to change my akumas earlier. The moth Miraculous is supposed to grant wished and cheer people. I heard Marinette was having some troubles with a loss, so I thought to help her," he described.

"What happened then?" the boy continued as his father wrapped an arm around him.

"She rejected me harshly, not believing that I've changed, and then she interrogated me about the treatment of Cat Noir," he sighed.

The boy nuzzled his father, as replied, "I'm sure it was nothing you offered that was wrong. It was probably just her issue dealing with her loss and didn't want to lose anymore since being akumatized often makes things worse."

The man was immediately hurt by that, but his son went on. "Dad, remember. I'm here. I'm a happy akuma." Adrien fully embraced Gabriel, savoring the warmth and comfort.

The designer sighed. "I guess you are right, Adrien. I'll just have to find someone else, and maybe then I can help Paris. Maybe after that, Ladybug may warm up to me, and I may not have to force her Miraculous away to bring back your mother."

They released their hug, and Gabriel looked down at the hand with his ring.

"What if Cat Noir came back? Would she then trust me enough to lend her Miraculous?"

They left the question open ended since she may be suspicious of Cat Noir's return since she would probably assume that he is an akuma.

School was finally starting, and the two eager teens sat down in class talking to their friends.

"Alya, it's so cute seeing Adrien so happy!" the girl grinned.

"Yeah, but did you hear?" Alya began worriedly for Marinette's sake. "Apparently Mr. Agreste asked Ladybug and Adrien to be a thing."

"Where did you hear that?" Marinette grinned like it was a joke.

"Adrien told Nino all about it, and Nino told me," Alya explained solemnly. "I'm sorry Marinette, but it seems Adrien isn't open anymore."

Marinette then tuned in on Adrien and Nino's conversation:

"Yeah, I'm so psyched! I wonder if I'll get to see her today!" the model exclaimed excitedly.

Chloe then suddenly stood up, and "kindly" walked over to Adrien.

"So, Adrien what's so good about Ladybug, I mean, like she actually likes you. She acts so high and mighty. I bet she is just doing it for the publicity!" the blonde complained.

"Chloe, she is the most confident, and thoughtful girl I know. She has no need for publicity and actually, she'd rather not be so publicized. I know she cares about me. When she apologized to me about yesterday, she confessed to me and really likes me," Adrien explained with a light pink blush on his cheeks.

Meanwhile, Marinette's cheeks reddened. Wow. He actually really liked her. If only she could tell him.

Chloe made a big huff, and then stomped back to her seat, not knowing how to respond while still looking like the better match for Adrien.

Class was boring like usual, and the students were relieved to leave for lunch.

Marinette told Alya she wanted some time alone to work on her project for Gabriel, which she already showed to her best friend. She then walked in the direction of her house, but slipped into an alleyway, letting her kwami fly out of her pocket.

"Wasn't that such a sweet thing Adrien said about you?" Tikki smiled happily for her master.

"Yeah," she peeped with a red tint appearing on her cheeks.

"Well, what are you waiting for, Marinette? Let' go say hi to Adrien!" the lucky spirit cheered.

"Tikki, spots on!" the human called, red and black rapidly covering her skin. She then dashed off in the direction of the Agreste Mansion where Adrien was spending his lunch time.

After a minute, the hero finally reached the mansion and she landed in front of Adrien's window, seeing the model laying sprawled out in his bed. She tapped the window, and the boy quickly sat up, and smiled. He dashed over to the window, pushed it open, and let his idol in.

"Good afternoon, Ladybug," he greeted sweetly, taking her hand and kissing it.

"Ah, good afternoon, Adrien," she greeted back nervously. She was holding back a squee with how flirtatious, even if it was only subtly, he was.

"Would you like anything to eat? My cooks can make whatever you'd like," he offered.

"Um, I don't know. You choose something for me," she accepted the offer.

"Okay fine," he smiled, walking over to his door, opening it, and nearly ran into Nathalie as she was turning the corner. He asked Nathalie if she could ask the chefs to make something for Ladybug and him for lunch, and she agreed, walking down to the kitchen.

Adrien walked back into his bedroom where he saw Ladybug sitting on the edge of the couch, slumped over looking sad.

"Ladybug, what's wrong?" he asked worriedly, rushing over and sitting next to her.

"Oh, it's nothing," she tried covering up with a big, but fake smile.

"I can tell something's wrong, Ladybug. That wasn't your signature confident smile," he told her, waiting for her reply.

"I'm not that good as you think I am," she confessed.  
"What do you mean?" he asked scooting closer to her.

"I never really told Cat Noir why I couldn't return his feelings. I was too much of a coward to tell him, and I would always avoid the topic. He probably hates me now, seeing that it's known that we are together, and that I have a new partner to fight akumas with," she pouted.

The model put his hand on her back, first testing if that was alright, and then continued and delicately stroked her back soothingly. "Ladybug, you shouldn't be so hard on yourself," he informed her. "I'm sure Cat Noir is happy for you, and understands why you didn't tell him. He's probably also happy that someone else is there to help you in battle. Ladybug, you are an amazing girl. You are confident, brave, determined, passionate, sweet, you name it! And, I know Cat Noir believes that too."

"But I'm obviously not confident right now. I'm not the person you think I am," she murmured back.

"I know, Ladybug, but no one is perfectly confident all of the time." He pulled himself closer so he could fully wrap his arm around her back. "If you think I think less of you for being nervous about this tricky situation, you are wrong. You are amazing, Ladybug." He then proceeded to hook his arms under hers, laying his hands on the small of her back and neck, and pulled her in for a delicate, and careful kiss.

Marinette was completely caught off guard, but closed her eyes and savored the boy's touch, and kissed him back. She slowly opened her eyes, and saw the smiling blonde's beautiful emerald eyes looking into her eyes lovingly. "Ladybug, I love you, and it doesn't matter that you've made mistakes."

 **A/N: So, I've finally put some romance in here. I'm not the best with writing romance, though since I personally do not experience it myself, being aro ace, but I'm guessing. If you can give me tips, I'd be thrilled. I'm going to be writing a lot more Ladrien, in the future, so I'll need all the tips I can get.**


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N: Hello Miraculers! I hope you'll enjoy the chapter!**

After Adrien and Ladybug ate the lunch the cooks prepared, Ladybug swung away to get ready for school again. Marinette checked in with her parents telling them that she went out for lunch, and then ran off to school.

That afternoon, like morning, was quite boring. The students were once again relieved to leave for the day. Marinette once again followed Adrien to the limo, this time without Gabriel meeting them. They reached the office and went all the way to the top floor. The two exited, and then went their own ways after Marinette went to her office to work on her project.

Adrien knocked on the door, and then entered his father's office. His father looked up from his work and smiled.

"Good afternoon, Adrien. I heard that Ladybug visited. How was it?" he asked.

"It was amazing!" the boy cheered. "Ladybug did have some difficulties with guilt surrounding not telling me as Cat that she didn't like me and having a "new" partner. I helped her convince her that she's not as bad as she thinks, and I then kissed her!"

"You kissed her?" His father raised his eyebrows in question and surprise. "Well, I'm happy for you," the designer smiled. "She's opened up to you extremely fast."

"I'm just worried for her though," the model worried. "She's so hard on herself, and with her being somewhat our victim, I worry if I'm hurting her."

Gabriel looked at his son softly. "I don't believe you are hurting her, Adrien. She's slowly warming up to the situation, and I'm sure you are helping her."

Adrien sighed, and decided to not think about that for a while and do some homework.

Meanwhile, Marinette was furiously trying to figure out a good akuma outfit, since Hawkmoth's outfit was formal enough. She tried making dresses out of all of the female akumas she encountered, filling up her trash bin with balls of rejected sketches. She finally was satisfied with a dress of Anti-Bug with was nearly the same as her Ladybug dress, but with the opposite pattern, and on smaller details which were darker, and sharper. After that, she was once again stuck on Cat Noir. She knew if she even tried, she'd get herself riled up, so she closed her sketchbook, got up and walked over to Mr. Agreste's office to show him her progress.

She knocked on the door, and Adrien peeked out once again, but this time she wasn't in costume. He let her enter, and Mr. Agreste nodded in greeting to her.

"Good afternoon, Marinette. What do you have to show me?" he asked. She nervously walked over, and opened up her sketchbook to her Ladybug outfit.

"Hmm? Very nice, but maybe you could change that and add this." The fashion emperor picked up a pencil and wrote in some notes for her before flipping to the Hawkmoth suit, which we was amazed at how high detailed the design was, writing in more notes, and then finally looking at the Anti-bug outfit and writing in a few details.

"I like it. Anti-bug is a wise choice since pairs of girls will be attracted to pick the Ladybug and Anti-bug to match, but not be identical. You just need to complete a Cat Noir design, and we can work on final copies."

"About that," Marinette cringed. Before she could explain, Adrien got up and exited, causing a slight distraction, letting her think, but still nothing came to her.

"What's wrong?" Gabriel asked.

"What?!" Marinette was taken completely off guard.

"I'm asking what's wrong. You don't seem to be yourself. Tell me about it," he replied with a sympathetic smile.

"I, can't really explain," the girl cringed. She couldn't come up with a possible explanation for feeling an immense amount of guilt about the disappearance of Cat Noir that wouldn't indicate that she is Ladybug.

"Marinette, what's wrong?" Adrien chimed in, worried for his classmate.

"It's just, I really can't talk about it," she clenched her jaw trying to stop herself from crying. She took a deep breath, and proceeded to walk out.

The Agrestes didn't stop her, and they let her go. After she left, Adrien asked, "What was wrong? Was she having trouble with her project?"  
"No, she is probably still coping from the loss she experienced," Gabriel explained.

Back in her office, Tikki flew out of her purse, and said, "That was a close call, Marinette."

"I know. I just can't keep myself together when it comes to Cat Noir," she sighed.

"Don't fret Marinette! Things may be hard now, but I'm sure it will get better!" Tikki cheered optimistically.

The rest of the day was normal, and the only new events happened when Marinette swung her way back to the Eiffel Tower. She met Hawkmoth Jr. there where he happily looked out at the city.

"You seem quite happy," the red and black teen pointed out.

"I had a very good day," he smiled, looking up at his partner.

"Why was that?" she asked. She noticed her face grew warm once again, and she was annoyed she couldn't control it.

"It's nothing. It happened in my civilian life, so I can't really share it," he sighed, patting the spot next to him for Ladybug to sit.

"What about you?" he asked. "You seem a bit off."

She sighed as she sat down, and began to explain again. "I've been having so much trouble coping with losing Cat Noir. I feel so guilty." She once again began tearing up.

"Ladybug, don't keep balling up the guilt inside you, please," Hawkmoth Jr. instructed with concern, scooting closer to her again.

The girl's cheeks began warming up even more. She knew that in this much shadow Hawkmoth Jr. wouldn't notice, but who knows? Maybe he hears how fast her heart is beating.

"I know, but without him around to confirm that I'm just worrying for no reason, I can never know if he's alright or not," she cried.

Adrien just wanted to stand up and yell, "Ladybug, I'm Cat Noir!" but he restrained, but let some of his yearning out: "Ladybug, if you want, I can go get Cat Noir for you," he offered.

"What do you mean?!" she exclaimed in disbelief.

"I know the boy behind the cat mask, since he told me after he lost his Miraculous. He bought a costume of himself just as a momento of his time as a hero, and I'm sure he'd gladly dress in it, and I can bring him up here."

"Wait, but does he know of your powers?" she asked worriedly, simply going along with it since she wouldn't assume her new partner joke about such a thing.

"Yes. I told him I gained powers, and he told me to keep my eye on you for him," the boy explained.

"You don't have to," the bug said politely.

"Well, I'm going, so you don't have a choice but see him again," Hawkmoth Jr. smiled, disappearing into the darkness.

Marinette sat there on the tower alone. A chilly breeze began to blow, and it caused a chill to go down her back. She sat wondering how Cat will greet her and if he'd forgive her. She heard a magical whoosh, and she heard someone's feet taking slow steps across the metal platform. She slowly turned her head, and beside her, she saw two black leather boots. She slowly looked up, and to her amazement and fear, she saw the black cat superhero standing next to her.

"M'lady," he murmured softly, much different than his normal over the top, flirtatious entrances.

Her breath hitched, and her heart began racing. "Kitty," she murmured back, looking up at his no longer cat-like eyes. "I missed you," she began bawling.

The boy reached down, took her hand, and helped her up, pulling her into a nice big hug. She was crying into his leather suit and hugging him tight. He rested his head on hers, and smelled her beautiful hair.

"I'm so sorry," she sobbed.

He pulled away from the embrace so he could look at her face to face. He carefully lifted his hand to her cheek and wiped her tears away with his thumb.

"You don't need to apologize, Bugaboo," he replied. "I'm fine. Hawkmoth didn't torture me or anything. He simply asked for my Miraculous, and I gave it to him. He's really not as bad as you may think. In fact, I think I've changed him."

Marinette thought back to that morning when Hawkmoth offered to help her. He really wasn't lying when he said he didn't hurt Cat. The designer then looked up at her partner's mask. She hesitantly reached to touch it.

"Is your mask removable?" she asked curiously and nervously.

"Yes. If you'd like, you can remove it. I won't mind. Hawkmoth can't hurt me anymore," the blond offered.

Marinette began to reach, but then pulled back anxiously. She couldn't just reveal him. She's never allowed it before. The unlucky hero smiled as he took hold of both of Ladybug's shaking wrists. He slowly directed her hands to the sides of his mask.

"Ladybug. We may never meet both in suits ever again. Please, do this for me," he smiled sadly.

She shuttered as she slowly took hold of the sides of his mask. She immediately closed her eyes as Cat helped her take the mask off. A moment later, Cat Noir stated, "Ladybug, open your eyes."

The girl slowly opened her blue eyes, looking down at the floor instead of up at her partner. "Ladybug, please look at me," the boy urged, but the heroine didn't budge. "Ladybug," he murmured, placing his index finger and his thumb on her chin, and lift her head so she could see him. Her eyes widened in fear and surprise.

"Adrien," she gasped. Her flight instinct kicked in, and she tried backing away.

"Ladybug," the model cooed, catching her hand, and kissing it. He pulled her closer and wrapped his arm around her back, and place his other hand on the side of her head, lightly brushing her hair. "If you worry that I judge you harshly because of the multiple rejections and secrets you kept from me, don't. It's more of an ironic issue that we were both not together behind masks, since you love me without, and who would judge that a rich model who always followed his father's rules would at night, adventure with the bravest of all heroes, Ladybug, as he flirts and attempts at seduction like an idiot. Ladybug, I've loved you for longer than I remember. Please never forget that."

The former hero proceeded to pull her so close they could feel each other's breath on each other's skin. He then leaned down, and linked their lips, passionately pulling the heroine as close as he could. She hung her arms around his neck, deepening the kiss. They breathlessly pulled apart beaming at each other with genuine grins.

"I love you, Cat Noir," Ladybug chuckled. "I can't believe you were right here if front of me, and I didn't see you."

"I wish I could say the same, but I'm happy just having you know who I am," he laughed.

The two just hugged, savoring each other's warmth and company.

" _It's late, Adrien. You should come back home. I know it's a weekend, but you can spend all day with Ladybug tomorrow,"_ Mr. Agreste notified him through the akuma when Ladybug wasn't looking.

"Ladybug, it's late. I should be going home," he told her.

"That's fine Adrien. I'll help you get back, but you better hold on tight!" she grinned playfully.

Adrien let her throw her yo-yo and get a good grip before holding onto her shoulders. They carefully approached the edge before the two swung across the way to the Agreste mansion. They landed in the courtyard and the maskless Cat Noir climbed off the masked Ladybug.

"Good-bye Ladybug. I'll see you soon," he said, going in and kissing her cheek.

 **A/N: I hope you enjoyed the chapter! I don't know when I'll post next, since I'm busy with school.**


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N: Hello Miraculers! It's been a while since I last posted a chapter.(Sorry!) This next chapter is quite the major plot point in this story, so I hope you enjoy the drama.**

After the Ladybug departed, she dashed back to her room where she found her sketchbook, and instantly began drawing Adrien wearing a Cat Noir inspired suit. It barely took long, but she was exhausted since that day was quite long, causing her fall asleep there in her desk chair.

When morning arrived, she found herself comfortably waking up in her bed. She questioned how she got there, since she didn't remember falling out of the chair and half-sleepwalking over to her bed. The designer got up, checked her sketchbook to see if what she experienced last night was a dream or not, and to confirm the events, she saw the design of Adrien in a Cat Noir inspired outfit and it all clicked.

She put her sketchbook down, and went downstairs where the smell of freshly baked bread, cakes and cookies filled the air.

"Good morning Marinette," her mother greeted.

"Good morning maman," she greeted back. "Where's papa?"

"He's keeping watch of the bread downstairs, sweetie," she informed her daughter.

Marinette walked into the kitchen to get herself some cereal, but she froze before she opened the door hearing the title of a news story coming from the family room: "Paris's beloved masked hero also Paris's most adored teen model?"

The girl rushed into the family room where she saw a blurry clip of her taking Adrien's mask off. It then went to live footage in front of the Agreste mansion where Adrien stood surrounded by more reporters with his bodyguard standing protectively next to him.

Marinette dashed back upstairs, closing the hatch behind her, and called for Tikki.

"What is it Marinette?" the kwami asked curiously.

"I need to get to Adrien's house to help him with the reporters," she said, immediately cheering, "Tikki, spots on!"

The heroine, dashed up to her balcony, and swung away to her partner's rescue.

Over at the Agreste Mansion, Adrien stood nervously in front of a mob of journalists and reporters.

"Adrien, what happened to your powers?"

"Are you retired from being a hero?"

"Has Ladybug known your identity all along?"

The teen sighed, and signalled for questions to stop.

"My Miraculous was taken away by Hawkmoth, the man who makes akumas. It wasn't violent or anything, but he has a very good reason to need it," he began. "I don't plan to be retired as a hero, since I will return to duty as soon as I get my Miraculous back. Ladybug didn't know my identity beforehand."

"What are your thoughts on the mysterious Hawkmoth Jr. who took over your roll?"

"I think he's great! He's actually someone I know out of the mask, and he's been giving me the details since I told him I was Cat Noir," he answered.

Ladybug finally swung in, and nearly knocked Adrien over. Immediately she was overwhelmed with questions.

"Is your relationship with Adrien confirmed?" one asked.

"Have you shared your identity with him?" another asked.

The heroine motion for the reporters to stop, and then replied: "Yes, Adrien and I are together, and no, he doesn't know my identity."

"What stops you from telling him?"

"Is there a more dangerous secret behind your mask?"

"There's no dangerous secret behind my mask. I just can't tell him since Hawkmoth may try to make him spill the secret," the spotted girl answered, getting nervous, looking at Adrien for help.

"Would the reveal result in a break up?"

"Do you consider this unfair, Adrien?"

The questions began making the teens continuously more nervous.

Mr. Agreste walked out to the slightly open gate, and exited assertively, intending to get Adrien out of the crowd, but was instead pulled in.

"Gabriel Agreste, what is your reaction to Adrien having been Cat Noir?"

Gabriel paused to think, and replied. "I'm proud that my son was protecting Paris, and keeping its people safe from Hawkmoth's akumas. It is somewhat a shame that he lost his powers, but he is safer now and I won't have to worry about my son getting himself hurt."

The crowd then began overwhelmingly asking all different questions at the same time.

"Adrien, let's go back to the house. You may come as well, Ladybug," Gabriel offered.

"Uh, sure!" the girl responded back with a nervous smile.

The Agrestes, the hero, and the bodyguard got back past the gate, and closed it. The four headed into the mansion where Adrien lead Ladybug to his room, but before entering, Gabriel pulled Adrien to the side to talk to him in private.

"Adrien. It's been a good amount of time since releasing another akuma. Could you please bring back past akuma soon? I don't want Ladybug to get more suspicious of our activity," Gabriel asked.

Adrien nodded, and walked into his bedroom.

"So, how was your morning, Ladybug?" he asked, hopeful for her to be feeling better.

"I'm feeling much more relieved to know that you are okay, Cat Noir," she smiled, walking up to him, and hugging him.

"I'm relieved that you feel better, my lady," he smiled sincerely, stroking her cheek.

After a few moments, Adrien paused, and asked:

"Ladybug, could you wait here for a bit? I need to use the bathroom," he cringed.

"Of course, Adrien," she smiled.

He walked into his bathroom, and closed the door behind him. He then transformed into Hawkmoth Jr. The boy was about to clasp his hands together to create an akuma, but he paused. What was the point of creating another akuma? He had no goal. Sure, he was supposed to get Ladybug's Miraculous, but he could do that just by snatching them off when he walked back out.

The boy sighed, transformed back into his civilian form, and walked back out to Ladybug.

As Adrien walked back out of the bathroom, Ladybug stared at him in concern. She noticed a strange vibe coming off of him.

"What's wrong?" she asked, approaching him, and placing a hand on his cheek.

"Oh, it's nothing," he smiled sadly.

"Adrien, please tell me. I know something's wrong," the heroine stated, brushing the model's bangs out of his face.

"It's…" There was a knock on the door.

Adrien walked over to the door, opened it, and saw his father on the other side.

"Adrien, can you come with me for a moment," Gabriel spoke sternly.

Adrien turned his head towards his girlfriend and smiled weakly. "Just wait here Ladybug," he shrugged nervously.

Gabriel closed the door behind his son, and led him to his office. As they entered, Gabriel closed the door behind them, walked towards his desk, facing away from the model.

"Adrien," he began. "Why did you not follow my order?"

The boy sighed and replied: "What's the point of making akumas now? Ladybug and her Miraculous are at our fingertips. I don't want her face more akumas than she needs."

The villain turned back around and looked at his son. He saw the boy's loving and worried expression, and sighed. "So, what do you propose?"

"I propose that tonight, we treat Ladybug to something nice, like that fashion show tonight. She can get to know this me better," he smiled.

Gabriel's expression suddenly changed to one of hurriedness.

"I nearly forgot that I need to go to work so I can help Marinette with her designs," he said.

He paused and continued with a smile: "I like your idea Adrien. I suppose it isn't good to overwhelm her. I need to get going, so if you and Ladybug need anything, you can go to Nathalie."

"Thank you, dad," the boy grinned excitedly.

"No problem, son," the adult smiled back.

The two left the room, and headed in opposite directions. Adrien went back to his room, and was glad to see that Ladybug was still waiting for him.

"That took a little while, kitty" she commented.

"Yeah," the former hero agreed, confidence surging through his at the mention of his pet name. "I talked to him, and I'm wondering if you are available to go the fashion show with me tonight."

The heroine gasped and replied, "Of course!"

"Do you have any good attire to wear there?" Adrien asked. "I could get you a dress and mask from my father so you could fit in without revealing yourself."

Ladybug rethought the situation. She wouldn't be able to just go there as Marinette with a dress design by herself… She froze. "Oh my goodness, I'm going to be late!"

"To what?" Adrien questioned with concern to his girlfriend's sudden panic.

"To work," she stated. "I need to go. I'll see you later at the show, Adrien." She quickly pecked his lips, ran off to his window, and swung away.

Adrien stared off in the direction Ladybug, dazed. "She's amazing," he murmured to himself happily.

After getting back home, grabbing her stuff, running back outside, and transforming back into a hero, she made her way to an alley next to her office. She detransformed, and casually walked towards bumping into someone.

"Ah, sorry!" the young designer peeped, looking at the person she bumped into.

"It's fine, Marinette. Just make sure you keep your head up," Gabriel Agreste replied, opening the door for his intern.

"Thank you!" she smiled gratefully, waiting for her mentor to meet her side.

"Marinette," the fashion designer began. "Would you be up to finalizing and making a sample of your Ladybug design?"

The girl was quite surprised, and waited for a small explanation.

"There's a fashion show tonight, and I invited Ladybug. Seeing that she keeps to herself, I don't know her economic class. Just in case, I'd like to provide her a dress and a mask that doesn't reveal anything about her identity, and your design would do perfectly," he explained, pressing the button of the elevator.

"Uh, of course!" the hidden heroine agreed, pulling out her sketchbook, and flipping to the design.

They reached their floor, and walked down the hallway. After reaching Marinette's office, they stopped. They entered the room, and Marinette pulled an extra chair up to a table. She set her stuff down, and her mentor sat across from her.

"Here's the design," Marinette pointed out in her sketchbook.

The fashion emperor nodded, as he made a few marks on the design.

"Mr. Agreste?" the intern asked. "If we are going to be making the dress, do you have Ladybug's measurements?"

The adult totally forgot to see if he could get Ladybug's measurements, so he pulled out his phone to call his son.

The phone buzzed a bit, but was soon answered.

"Hey, dad," Adrien replied. "What is it?"

"Hello, son. Is Ladybug still there? I need to get some measurements for a dress I'm helping to make for her."

"Uh, no. She left shortly after you left. She had to go to work," the boy answered.

"Oh well," the man sighed. "I'll figure something out."

"Alright bye, dad"

"Bye son."

Mr. Agreste hung up, and paused for a moment as he looked down at the design. He then looked back up at Marinette, examining her body measurement.

"Marinette, your body seems to be nearly the shape of Ladybugs. Could we use your measurements to make the dress?" he inquired.

Marinette began to worry. Could this endanger her secret? She shrugged it off since it was only her measurements. Mr. Agreste would be extremely impressed with her work if she were to make it fit perfectly. It's not like she was going to _try it on_.

She nodded before flipping to a page with her measurements on it.

"Alright. I'll write these measurements on a separate page, and we can begin making the sample."

The two began discussing edits to the design, and after a few more minutes, they finalized it. After that, they quickly had a lunch break, and then got back to work on making patterns, getting fabric, and making the dress.

At around 4 o'clock, the two finally completed the dress.

"Great job, Marinette," Gabriel complemented, examining the dress on a mannequin.

"Thank you so much for helping me," she grinned proudly, amazed at how well made the dress was. She checked out the trim at the bottom where she found her signature in black thread, and grinned wider.

Mr. Agreste quickly stepped out of the room to grab a pair of Ladybug earrings that was a part of his Miraculous jewelry collection and a mask. He quickly returned, with a knock on Marinette's door, and he was let it. He walked over to the mannequin with the dress and looked at it with an unsatisfied look.

He looked over at Marinette, and without think about it asked, "Marinette, could you try on the outfit? You know clothes never seem to be complete without a person to wear them."

"Uh…" Marinette's mind went into overdrive. She played out scenes in her head where Gabriel would discover her identity and blab to the press, and she'd have an angry mob after her, and she also played out scenes of her refusing to try it on, and Gabriel would fire her, refuse to let her date Adrien, not let her go into fashion, and many other terrible consequences occur. "Uh, okay," she cringed anxiously.

As soon as the door was closed, Tikki flew out of Marinette bag and exclaimed, "Marinette, you can't do this! Your identity is at stake!"

"But Tikki, Mr. Agreste is my boss. He could fire me, and then I could no longer date Adrien, and I'd not go into fashion, and…"

Outside of her room, the holder of the moth Miraculous paused as he heard distressed cries from Marinette, like she was having an argument. The adult pressed his ear against the door curiously, and gasped as he heard a high pitched voice saying something about her "identity". He refused to accept what his mind determined the explanation to be.

"Fine, Tikki. I won't put on the mask," the human finally agreed. "Mr. Agreste. Come in," she called.

The fashion emperor, opened the door, and saw Marinette in the Ladybug dress. She wore all of the accessories except the earrings, and the mask. He nodded as he paced around the dress, seeing how it fit, and as he passed the desk, he picked up the mask. As he reached her front again, he lifted the mask in the air above her face, and his suspicions were correct.

"Well, isn't that a pleasant surprise," he said, handing the girl the mask. He noticed how nervous she appeared, and noted how sensitive a situation this was.

"So, does it look okay?" she asked.

"Just relax, Marinette. It looks great."

The teen thought that she was safe, but then he said, "You're so talented. Having an internship, a boyfriend, and saving the world all in 24 hours. I never bargain for Cat Noir being my son and Ladybug being my intern."

"So, you know," she stated simply.

"Yes, I know Marinette. Don't worry. Your secret is safe between the two of us. Neither Adrien nor the world will know anything," he smiled. He knew better than taking advantage of the situation. He'd rather fail at getting the Miraculous than ruining his most valuable intern's life.

At that moment, a red blur flew across the room towards them. The blur stopped in front of Gabriel and inspected him carefully, stopping at his ring, his scarf, and then his face.

"Marinette, could you give us a minute to talk? I need to make sure I can trust him," the lucky kwami asked.

"Yes, but you may want to do that in his office since I don't want anyone one else to see me," the heroine suggested.

"Of course," the adult replied, leading Tikki out of the room towards his office.

In his office, he closed the door, walked over to his desk, and turned towards the kwami.

"Hello, Hawkmoth," she said flatly.

"Hello," the man replied, noting that the kwami knew and could have known for a while. He then revealed Plagg and Nooroo who flew out of his coat.

"Hey, Tikki! Long time no see!" Nooroo exclaimed happily, embracing the fellow kwami.

"Hey Nooroo," Tikki greeted back.

"Hey, Tikki," Plagg greeted casually, leaning back in the air.

"Hello Plagg," she chuckled.

"So, your name is Tikki," the moth Miraculous holder stated.

"Yes," she confirmed. "And you are Gabriel Agreste, Hawkmoth, holder of the moth and cat Miraculous." The kwami was stern.

He nodded in reply.

"So, you and Adrien have been manipulating my Marinette for some time now. I think that is a good reason not to trust you," she stated.

"Yes, I understand," the man sighed. "But I have no intention of hurting her, since it'd break my son's heart."

The ladybug took into account of the man's sympathy for his son. "So tell me, why have you been hunting for mine and Plagg's Miraculouses?" she inquired.

Gabriel sighed deeply once again. "I lost my wife. She was the most wonder woman in the world. She helped to prevent me from overworking myself, and she was a great teacher and mother to Adrien." A tear glistened from his eye. "I began this whole Hawkmoth thing based on revenge in the beginning, seeing that the Ladybug and Cat Noir from that time murdered her in battle."

Plagg gasped and then looked remorseful with droopy ears and all. "Your wife was Madame Peacock. I'm so sorry. I wish I was able to stop my holder for committing all of those unforgivable crimes, but us kwamis don't necessarily have a say."

The other kwamis were just as sad as Plagg.

"I'm sorry," Tikki apologized, feeling extremely guilty. "I guess I can trust you. If you keep me in on your plan, I can help ease Marinette into the situation, and you can bring your wife back, Gabriel."

The villain grinned, all feelings of happiness and excitement were running through him,making him want to jump around for joy, but he contained himself.

There was a knock on the door. The kwamis all hid themselves in Gabriel's coat, and he opened the door.

"Are you guys done?" Marinette asked. She was carrying the dress on a hanger with a cover over it.

"Yes we are," Gabriel replied as Tikki flew out of her jacket and flew into Marinette's pouch.

"I guess I should be quickly going home. My parents are probably worried sick, seeing that I haven't been there since morning," the girl told her mentor.

"Oh, don't worry. I'll drop you off and explain that I had you working for quite a while," he offered.

"Oh, you don't need to do that," the heroine responded. "I can just take a cab."

"I insist, Marinette. I was going to pick up some food from your bakery anyway, so it'd be nothing to drop you off."

The intern sighed in acceptance and slight defeat, "Alright. But what am I going to tell them about the fashion show tonight. What about getting there?"

"You shouldn't worry. Tell them that I asked you to go there so you could learn from it. I can keep your dress so you can swing over. I'll even get some crew to help you with your hair if you'd like."

Marinette was speechless. _The_ Gabriel Agreste has given her so many offers, and there was no way she was allowed to refuse them. She wondered what drastically changed since earlier that week when Adrien was having problems with his dad. Mr. Agreste certainly didn't seem like the terrible father that Adrien seemed to believe he was.

 **A/N: I hope you enjoyed the chapter! This took me quite a while to actually decide that I will have Gabriel discover Ladybug's identity, after making drafts of the chapter if Adrien did actually release an akuma and things got too complicated. If you have any ideas or suggestions for later events in this story, please tell me! Reviews help encourage my writing so much!**


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N: Hello Miraculers. Sorry for the long wait for this chapter; at least it is long. It was a hard process trying to make this go the way I wanted. It is very light and cheerful in the beginning, but beware, it will become much darker at the end. I hope it flows well enough. Enjoy!**

The two fashion designers drove to Marinette's bakery. They walked in, and Marinette's parents dashed over to their daughter.

"Marinette, you've been gone for a while," her mother told her worriedly. "You left without finishing your breakfast."

"She was with me for quite some time," Gabriel informed them. "I was in a rush, since Adrien wanted to invite Ladybug to a fashion show tonight, and Marinette's Ladybug design was perfect to make Ladybug a dress for the event. I had her help me make the dress."

Tom's eyes lit up in excitement for his daughter. "Oh my goodness! Our daughter is going to have Paris' hero wear her design. I'm so excited for you, Marinette!" He hugged his daughter, and Sabine joined in.

Hoping not to interrupt the family bonding, Gabriel stated, "Marinette will be joining me for fashion show tonight. I want her to get some experience and meet some important people in the fashion community."

The parents looked up at Mr. Agreste and back down at Marinette, and Sabine told her daughter, "Make sure to get a picture with you and Ladybug, sweetheart. Your friend Alya would probably like that."

Marinette forced a convincing smile, and looked up at Gabriel who gave her a reassuring nod.

"I need to go up stairs to get ready," Marinette told her parents.

Sabine and Tom let the designer out of the hug, and the girl dashed upstairs.

"Would I be able to get something to bring back to Adrien?" Gabriel asked.

"Of course, what would you like?" Sabine asked.

Meanwhile, Marinette reached her room. Tikki flew out of Marinette's purse, and sighed. "Marinette, how will you get a picture with yourself?!" she exclaimed.

"Don't worry Tikki. Mr. Agreste will photoshop me or something," Marinette reassured her kwami.

Suddenly, Marinette received a text from Mr. Agreste saying that she should bring a dress to dress as Marinette for part of the show in order to introduce her to some important people. The designer immediately looked for a dress that'd look good with red but wasn't red in case the make up artists use that color on her face and so she would looked too much like her alter ego. She grabbed a more casual outfit that wouldn't be as flashy as her other dress, but was formal enough for the event: a black dress with red roses and a brown cardigan with some green flats.

After dressing, the girl ran downstairs, still carrying her sketchbook, grabbed a premade sandwich from the fridge that she was going to have for lunch, and ran back upstairs to her bedroom where she got all of her stuff organized. She quickly ate her sandwich and ran downstairs where she kissed her parents good-bye before hiding and transforming into Ladybug.

"Now where is this fashion show?" she questioned.

The heroine slid open her yo-yo, and looked up the location; it was taking place at a nearby stage. She got up, and began to dash away.

After reaching the stage, she stopped at an alleyway where she detransformed. Tikki flew back into her pouch, and began to nibble on some cookies. Marinette walked out, carrying her ticket that Mr. Agreste gave to her earlier. She approached the guard, handed him her ticket, and she was then handed it back. Marinette headed in the direction of backstage, was stopped by a guard, but then was let through by Mr. Agreste.

"I'm glad you made it, Marinette. Ladybug's not here yet, so why don't you go ahead and make yourself comfortable," he said, glancing over at Adrien who was in earshot of the two.

Marinette glanced over at Adrien who looked back at her and waved bashfully. She bashfully waved back with a blush, but snapped herself out of a daze before it even happen. Gabriel led Marinette around to a dressing room, and told her, "the dress and the mask are in here." He gave her the cue to wait until she was unnoticed to enter the room.

After a little while of sketching some accessories, she snuck over to the dressing room, and began changing. She quickly changed into the dress, the shoes, and nearly all of the accessories that went with the dress. She looked in the mirror, and Tikki joined her.

"You look so pretty, Marinette!" she cheered with amazement.

"Thank you, Tikki," she replied, looking at how the dress fit, and looking tentatively at the magicless mask.

"Marinette," Tikki began more seriously. "I've decided that tonight, I'll be flying by your side so I can protect you from those who want to remove your mask."

Marinette was baffled. "Wouldn't that make me more vulnerable as Marinette if someone else sees me with you?"

Tikki paused for a moment, then zoomed through the wooden door. The kwami sped quickly passed models, crew, and designers, gladly unnoticed, until she found Gabriel. She began to explain the situation to Gabriel and he responded. "Hmm… I suppose we can popularize toys of you and Plagg if you'd like to make yourself less noticeable and your holder can make the excuse of having one of the figures."

"That would work, if you figure out a way to get Plagg and I noticed in somewhat similar circumstances that aren't suspicious to Marinette being Ladybug and yourself being Hawkmoth."

"Then I'll get on that," Gabriel said, writing the plan down in a notebook.

Tikki then zoomed back to Marinette who was patiently waiting.

"We figured something out. I'll be watching over you," Tikki told her holder.

A moment later, someone knocked on the door.

Marinette looked at Tikki quickly, and then said, "Come in!"

A makeup specialist entered the room.

"Hello, Ladybug. Mr. Agreste said that he'd like you to have makeup since you _are_ debuting his intern, Ms. Dupain-Cheng's, piece of work tonight," she said.

"Wait, I'm debuting her work? Am I going on the runway or something?" she asked, hiding her nervousness since Mr. Agreste didn't tell her at all and she's the designer _and_ the model.

"Yes. He said that he forgot to go over that with you, but at the end, he's going to have you go out on stage and talk about you and the designer," she explained, getting her makeup out and looking for the right foundation.

"Oh, okay," she replied, hiding her growing anxiety.

"By the way, I'm Clara," she introduced herself. "I'm the top makeup specialist for Mr. Agreste."

In less than a second, Tikki was out and inspecting Clara and determining if she was a danger or not.

The makeup specialist was startled by the kwami, and then was completely confused by it.

"Sorry for startling you, Clara. My name's Tikki. I'm Ladybug's kwami or magical spirit. I'm a somewhat of a guide to my holder. Since her Miraculous is not activated, she is in a more vulnerable state, so I am here to protect her. To help me protect her, I need to make sure you won't be removing Ladybug's mask," the lucky spirit stated.

Clara looked at Ladybug's face and what she'd have to do to compensate. She decided that she'd only do eye and lip makeup and not have to worry about foundation since that'd look awful if Ladybug ever decided to change back during the event.

"Alright. I'm just going to do some simple eye makeup and lipstick with maybe a little blush," she informed the two.

Meanwhile, as Adrien was being prepared, he kept constantly looking around for Ladybug. Gabriel was about to pass him when Adrien asked, "Has Ladybug gotten here yet?"

Gabriel spotted Marinette closing the door of the dressing room, and stated, "Yes. She just got here. She's beginning to change."

Adrien smiled. He couldn't wait to see how Ladybug looked. The ex-hero still couldn't get over that he was in a relationship with Ladybug. Things have come quite far in such a short amount of time.

His thoughts were interrupted when he heard a bang from outside. His father looked over to the door, and jogged over. The man opened the door, and standing there was Ladybug panting in exhaustion.

"Ladybug, why is there a second you here?" the designer asked.

"It's hard to explain. Just please let me in! There's an akuma after me!" she explained.

Gabriel quickly let her in and she dashed into a second open dressing room. He then walked over to the door of that dressing room, and knocked. "Could you name the akuma you're being chased by so I can warn others?"

Slightly muffled from the door he heard the name, "Timebreaker." He nodded, and proceeded to walk over to Adrien.

"Adrien can you come with me?" he asked.

"Of course, father. What is it? I thought you said Ladybug was already here. Why did another come in?" the boy pondered as they walked to a less populated hallway.

"It seems that you need to create Timebreaker, since there is a Ladybug and a Timebreaker from the future here," he quietly informed his son.

"But can I wait 'til after the fashion show?"

"I'm afraid not. Create a Timebreaker so it can continuously gain energy from people so it has enough energy to travel back by three hours or so. You also need to lead the Timebreaker that's right outside our door so it doesn't ruin the fashion show. Make sure it stands by for a little while," the mastermind informed his sidekick.

"That's a lot of people Timebreaker will be taking energy from, but I guess it's not going to hurt anyone," the model nodded uneasily.

Adrien ran off and hid in a closet where he transformed, and created a little green and purple butterfly. The creature then flew out of the tight space as Hawkmoth Jr. contacted the future Timebreaker.

" _Timebreaker,"_ he called.

" _Yes, Hawkmoth Jr.? What do you want me to do now? You told me not to interrupt the fashion show."_

" _Wait until the past version of you arrives, and aid it in gaining enough energy as you did. The Ladybugs will come to fight right after this event which is hopefully the exact amount of time it took for you to gain the energy to travel back to this time,"_ the original akuma explained hopefully.

" _That is correct,"_ the akuma replied, earning a relieved sigh from Hawkmoth Jr.

Suddenly, the second Timebreaker was akumatized, and Hawkmoth Jr. said, " _Future Timebreaker, explain the plans to the current Timebreaker. We'll get Ladybug's Miraculous eventually."_

Adrien sighed, and transformed back into his civilian form. He walked back out of the closet and over to his father.

"I think it's all handled," he told Hawkmoth.

"Good. Now hopefully this show won't be ruined by a paradox," Gabriel sighed.

Meanwhile back in the current Ladybug's dressing room, Marinette was just finished getting her hair finished. Clara and the hair stylist who came in later both smiled in awe.

"You look amazing! I've got to meet your designer!" Clara replied.

"Agreed!" said the hair stylist.

The two exited the room with their equipment, and Marinette looked at herself in the mirror. Her hair was down and was straightened from the waves her pigtails often caused. It was good that she could put it back up easily without the pigtails being strangely different.

After gazing at herself and looking at her dress for mistakes, she exited the room. As she walked out she saw Gabriel and Adrien talking to each other, and Gabriel sighing.

"Mr. Agreste," she called. Both of the Agrestes looked over and were startled by her beauty.

Adrien's Cat Noir, flirtatious attitude kicked in, and he sauntered over, and whispered, "You look amazing bug-a-boo!" He was about to kiss her when she placed her finger on her boyfriend's nose.

"Not right now! We both have makeup on!" she chided playfully.

Mr. Agreste walked up to them, and explained, "We'll be on in 15 minutes."

In the background, the other Ladybug waited until she could dash off to the other dressing room so she could change back into Marinette. After detransforming and checking if the coast was clear, she dashed off into the other room with Tikki.

"What a strange coincidence this is Tikki! I got, I mean, I get to be here as both Marinette and Ladybug after all!" she chuckled.

"Yeah," Tikki replied non-wholeheartedly. Tikki's head was drooped and her eyes drifted of away from Marinette who was taking her shoes off.

"Tikki, what's wrong?" she asked.

"Oh it's nothing, Marinette," she replied with less enthusiastic smile.

"Come on, Tikki, you are not normally this glum. Please, tell me," the human begged.

The lucky spirit sighed. "I'm just tired, Marinette; it's been a long day, literally!"

The designer looked at her kwami suspiciously, but gave up and decided now was not the time to pester her kwami. They had a long night to deal with.

Marinette found her purse, and grabbed a cookie out of it for Tikki. "After you are reenergized, should we go out and fight Timebreaker?"

With a full mouth, the ladybug shook her head and swallowed before saying, "You'd have no chance defeating them right now. Your other self is unaware of the situation, and seeing as Timebreaker acquired enough energy to travel three hours into the past, I'm guessing that the original Timebreaker was just akumatized, and there are now two akumas out there."

Marinette sighed. "I guess I'll just get changed, and go find Mr. Agreste."

Tikki nodded.

Down the hall, Adrien was lined up with the other models and getting ready to go out. Gabriel walked out onto the stage, and the audience erupted in applause. As he began a speech, Ladybug and Tikki were eagerly peaking through the crack of the curtain at the fashion emperor.

Near the end of speech, Marinette walked out of her dressing room and down to the stage. As she was going to go and watch from the audience, so she doesn't both her other self, she was stopped by Adrien who quietly said, "Marinette you disappeared after I last saw you. I was worried you were going to miss the show."  
She blushed and replied, "I was busy sketching."

Gabriel walked off stage, and noticed both of his interns, and decided he'd tend to "Ladybug" first.

"How are you enjoying the backstage view?" he asked.

"It's exciting and amazing but, it's also a bit nerve-racking!" she answered.

"I'm sorry for not telling you that you will be modeling the design as well as just wearing it for fun," he apologized.

"It's fine! I just hope that the audience won't insist to see the designer!" she stated nervously.

"Don't worry. I have a plan," he smiled.

He looked over for "Marinette", and saw she wasn't there anymore. He dashed away, apologizing to his models, as he split the line momentarily and caught Marinette before she entered the auditorium.

"Mr. Agreste!" she exclaimed in surprise.

"Hello Ms. Dupain-Cheng. Did you enjoy the backstage view of the show?"

"Yes. It was quite a surprise to see another me come out when the audience asked to see the designer, but I guess that means I should be ready to be on stage before the end. Where would you like me for now?"

The adult thought for a second, and then said. "You can be in the audience. I'll have a guard escort you to the front, so you can climb up the stairs in time, and your other self will be less frightened by the appearance of a second you."

Marinette nodded and followed Gabriel. A guard led her to the front of the auditorium directly next to the stairs. She settled into her spot, and was even more amazed and inspired by the dresses and suits she saw. One by one the models passed her and the event continued.

Finally at the end, Adrien exited and his fangirls screamed in excitement. He glanced out at the audience and looked directly at Marinette for a second. The audience cheered as Adrien walked over to the side of the stage where his father exited and took a bow.

"We have one more piece to show you. You will immediately recognize the model who bears this new piece, as none other that Paris's hero, but the dress was made just today by a young, female designer who I have recently accepted as an intern."

Gabriel looked over at Ladybug, and she exited somewhat nervously, but her confidence grew as she saw the proud smirk on her boyfriend's face. The audience began to roar. Adrien joined her as she walked down the runway and let her do a little twirl, making the audience go wild.

Tikki then seemed to appear out of nowhere, and gave a small wave to those who noticed. The audience seemed to quite with curiosity. People began muttering, "What is that thing?" and phrases along those lines.

"For those who question the little ladybug, this the spirit who gives Ladybug her powers. Her name is Tikki. She simply wanted to say hi."

"Hi!" Tikki said accordingly, and at that point, people began chanting to see the designer.

Gabriel looked over at Marinette as the chanting grew louder and more synchronized.

Marinette sighed, and climbed up the stairs. A spotlight followed her as she walked over to Gabriel Agreste.

"This young lady here is Marinette Dupain-Cheng. She has been my intern for less than a week, and she has already exceeded my expectations as you can see," the fashion emperor introduced the designer. Cameras flashed as they took pictures of the upcoming designer, and her creation.

Adrien and Ladybug walked back down the runway together, and Ladybug's confidence was fizzling away as she watched herself stand next to her mentor. She immediately worried about an akuma, but kept it hidden under a smile.

"Adrien, I need to transform. There's an akuma," she spoke to her boyfriend urgently.

"Not right now Ladybug," Tikki told her holder. "We must wait for the press to be over with."

She sighed. Adrien held her one of her hands, and put his other on the heroine's cheek. "Don't worry, bug-a-boo. It'll be alright." With that thought, he wondered where the other Ladybug had gotten off to. The one he was with was obviously from the current time since she didn't seem to be aware of Timebreaker.

After the show was finished, Adrien, Marinette, Ladybug, and Gabriel went out for some quick interviews and to get pictures taken. Adrien began sensing a nagging feeling in the back of his head. He left the other three saying, "I need to get changed". After the three got a picture together, they snuck off to a less occupied part of the building.

"You did great, you two," Gabriel congratulated.

'Ladybug' immediately began quietly and quickly spouting questions to her alter-ego. "What is going on? Is there an akuma? Are you really Marinette? Give me proof you're actually Marinete Dupain-Cheng."

'Marinette' sighed and began to explain. "Timebreaker is going to attack. There are going to be two of them. They have already gained enough energy to travel three hours into the past, so the streets will be desolate. I'll tell you the rest of the plan on the way."

'Ladybug's' kwami had inspected 'Marinette' earlier, and claimed. "She is telling the truth. I sense another version of me with her."

Gabriel then interrupted the heroines' battle plans and asked, "Will you be leaving? If so, make sure you collect everything you need, since we'll be closing up."

'Ladybug' looked at Marinette and asked, "Did you battle with the dress on?"

'Marinette' nodded back.

Gabriel looked at the two heroines, and smiled. "I should be going. I need to make sure everything is organized."

They smiled back, but then immediately transformed, their catch phrases echoing in the hallway. The two dashed down the hall to the nearest exit.

As the heroes skidded onto the sidewalk, the slightly elder Ladybug stated, "They'll be coming quickly."

Back in the building, Adrien sat in a cushioned chair waiting for his father. He began feeling this strange doubt about his akuma. Why was he still akumatized? What was the point? It wasn't like he was there to chase after Ladybug to get her Miraculous. The presence of the akuma was beginning to make him feel sick.

The boy was snapped out of his deep contemplation from his father placing a hand on his shoulder. The adult smiled and said, "We may need to wait here, seeing that the battle is just beginning."

"What about the staff and guests?" he asked.

"They are being directed to the other side of the building where they can exit without becoming obstacles in the battle," he explained.

Adrien paused for a moment before speaking. "Father, why am I still akumatized?"

Hawkmoth's civilian form furrowed his eyebrows in concern. "Because I'm sharing my power with you. Without the Cat Miraculous, you'd be defenseless, and I could never let you get yourself hurt."

The model nodded expressionlessly, his sense of morality slowly slipping away. "But why am I creating akumas? I felt so awful seeing Ladybug struggling in front of me because of my doing. All I want is to live happily with Ladybug. I don't want to manipulate her like we have."

Gabriel sighed he knew this might happen, but he couldn't just remove Adrien's akuma so easily without it multiplying and turning the whole city into Hawkmoth Jr.'s. Besides, his son's akumas were in the middle of a battle right now. He didn't want to cause a paradox.

"I understand that you don't want to hurt Ladybug, and I do confess we have been quite manipulative, but we are on the verge of obtaining her Miraculous and getting your mother back."

Adrien's expression suddenly grew dark with anger and hate. "I'm tired of just waiting and slowly manipulating Ladybug. I just want to get it over with, so I can be free of this akuma. I'm just gonna tear the bandage off, and get her Miraculous so she doesn't have to deal with this any longer."

Adrien was enveloped by darkness, and returned back to his villainous form with a sinister grin. He got up from his chair and disappeared with a black blur.

Gabriel stood shocked. That was never how he expected Adrien to react. This wasn't supposed to happen.

Nooroo flew out of his jacket, and sighed. "Adrien's been akumatized too long. The darkness of the akuma within him is getting to him, just like it did Volpina."

"At least he won't actually hurt anyone," Gabriel stated, assuming that the situation wasn't as serious.

Plagg then flew out solemnly. "I don't think so Gabe. I was Adrien kwami for quite a long time, and what I just saw wasn't too Adrien-like in character. He may do things he may normally never do."

Gabriel looked out the nearest window at the battle and noticed one of the sets of Ladybug and Timebreaker were gone. What was his son about to do? He needed to warn Ladybug somehow.

After teleporting to Hawkmoth's lair, Hawkmoth Jr. smirked. He immediately began making plans. He could use his akuma powers to his advantage by using all of the past akumas he needed to get Ladybug's Miraculous. First, he had to lead his current akuma in the battle at hand.

Only one Timebreaker and Ladybug were left when Hawkmoth Jr. began observing the battle. Timebreaker dashed at Ladybug, and Ladybug swung to a rooftop where the rollerblader couldn't reach her.

" _Timebreaker,"_ Hawkmoth Jr. began. " _Retreat for a moment. I need to get another soldier for our scheme."_

The rollerblader glared up at Ladybug and said, "This won't be the end, Ladybug. My masters have a plan and it won't fail this time!"

Ladybug looked down at the Timebreaker as she zoomed away too fast for Ladybug to tell which direction she went. Masters? What did Timebreaker mean?

 **A/N: So, there you have it. I hope you enjoyed the chapter, even if I'm ending on quite a cliffhanger. If you need some clarification on what just happened in this chapter, be free to message me. It had a lot of plot that was difficult for me to portray, but I hope it was understandable. I may change the chapter up with suggestions since I'm open to positive suggestions(not criticisms. I'm having a difficult time with criticisms because of some family problems, so please be kind!)**


	16. Chapter 16

A/N: Sorry for the wait everyone. I was busy finishing up school, and overcoming depression within the past months. By the way, thank you to all of you who've followed or reviewed. It warms my heart to see that people care about my work, and are entertained. I'm sorry that this is going to end on another cliff-hanger, but I'm working hard on the next chapter, and hopefully I will have enough time and motivation to pursue it as school starts again. Enjoy!

* * *

The next morning, Marinette woke up in her bed, feeling as tired as she felt the night before. After Timebreaker's disappearance, she decided there was nothing she was able to do in the moment but sleep on it. It was Sunday morning, and she had a day off from her internship. She grabbed for her phone and saw she got a new message from Alya saying, "Check the news, girl! Where is Ladybug?! My mom disappeared last night! This is getting scary!"

Marinette's grogginess momentarily dissipated as she ran downstairs to see her parents huddling at the TV where a different woman was giving the news.

"Akuma threatens model and former superhero Adrien Agreste's existence and commands superheroine Ladybug to appear by noon or else he will disappear forever," the newscaster reported.

Marinette's parents looked over to see their daughter, and they immediately sighed.

"We were so worried that you were taken by the akuma!" Tom exclaimed, jogging over and giving her daughter a hug.

"The akuma was right outside of your building, and we nearly assumed you were gone," Sabine finished, joining in the hug.

"I'm alright. I had some help from Ladybug," the young designer explained. She then looked back at the TV which was giving the data about how many people were taken out of existence. "I'll just stay up in my room to avoid any chance of getting hurt by an akuma," the teen told her parents who nodded approvingly.

She ran back upstairs, and awoke Tikki.

"Tikki, Timebreaker's threatening Adrien! I need to go and save him!"

Tikki contemplated the situation and sighed. "Alright Marinette. You say the words."

"Tikki, spots on!"

Marinette was enveloped by red, magical wisps, and her costume appeared. She climbed out onto her rooftop, and looked over to Eiffel Tower where she saw a helicopter circling.

"Well, let's see what the masters' plan is," she smiled weakly, trying to keep herself awake.

She swung away, until she landed in an alleyway nearby. As she walked out towards the open police car and reporter filled, street, she knocked into someone.

"Ah, sorry!" the spotted teen apologized.

The 'someone' turned around and to no surprise, it was Alya holding her phone up in front of her. "Ladybug…" she gasped. "Well, here she is, everyone. Ladybug has finally arrived to the scene, and is going to confront Timebreaker to save Adrien. Isn't that correct, Ladybug?"

She nodded. "I fear this battle will be more dangerous than usual, so please keep yourself safe, Alya," the Marinette's alter ego informed the student reporter.

The red-haired girl nodded in return, and quietly, and hesitantly cheered, "Good luck, Ladybug!"

Ladybug slowly walked out of hiding, and past police and reports who began gasping, "Ladybug!"

Timebreaker seemed to be sneering at Adrien up above on the tower, but she turned her head at the sudden noise of the reporters.

"Ladybug," the akuma hissed. "You finally showed up!"

"What are you planning to do with Adrien!" she yelled up.

"You know, suck up his energy and existence, or would you prefer him taking a good, long fall?" she cackled maniacally, as a green outline appeared on her face.

"Adrien," Ladybug called up in concern. "Are you doing okay?"

"Um, this is clearly not okay, my lady. Please save me!" he cried feebly.

Suddenly, out from behind a beam, Cat Noir appeared.

"Cat Noir!" gasped the reporters.

"Don't worry, Ladybug. This isn't actually Adrien," the Chat Noir smirked, walking over to Adrien with a cataclysmic fist.

"No!" Ladybug growled. She swung up to the level they were on, and hit the Cat Noir out of the way. She saw the photograph in his belt, but couldn't reach it since Timebreaker could touch her. Adrien looked over at Ladybug pleadingly, and the superheroine was about to grab him, but both recurring akumas dived at her and she and Adrien fell over the edge of the tower.

"Adrien, grab my hand!" she called. As Adrien did so, he suddenly vanished into darkness. "Adrien, Adrien!" she called frantically.

At the rate she was falling, she there'd be no time to safely catch herself with her yo-yo. As she nearly hit the ground and the reporters began rushing to try to catch her, Hawkmoth Jr. appeared, caught Ladybug in his arms, and disappeared with her.

The two reappeared in the alleyway they always end up in. Ladybug's throat was clenching up like she swallowed a tennis ball.

"I've got to save Adrien!" she choked out weakly.

"Rest, Ladybug, rest," the hidden villain commanded her sweetly. "How bad can akumas really be? You've beaten all of them you've encountered-"

"Except for Timebreaker, and apparently another Copycat!" Ladybug slid down to sit on the cement ground covered with soggy papers and garbage.

"Well, they're more recent."

"Timebreaker mentioned something about 'masters'. I wasn't sure if I was able to trust you in the beginning, but Tikki explained something to me about prototypes, so I believe you aren't in league with Hawkmoth, but who's this other 'master' Timebreaker spoke of? Is there another akuma that I haven't found yet?"

Hawkmoth Jr. squatted down, and grinned.

"We'll find out soon, I guess," he replied before disappearing.

As Hawkmoth Jr. disappeared, Ladybug became more determined to find Adrien and get rid of the akumas. She dashed back out of the alleyway, and ran back out to the large sidewalk in front of the Eiffel Tower.

"Ah. She's returned," Copycat smirked before using his staff to get himself and Timebreaker down to the ground.

"Get ready for defeat, Ladybug!" Timebreaker smirked sinisterly.

Ladybug was not prepared for Timebreaker's speed. As Timebreaker dashed toward her at lightening speed, she attempted to roll out of the way, but ended up flat on her back. When she tried to get up, Copycat stood above her with the dark pulse of Cataclysm in his hand. On Copycat's face was a green moth outline like Alya described. The fake hero began reaching down for her Miraculous, but as Ladybug attempted to roll away and escape, Timebreaker appeared over her as well with threatening hands.

"No! Please don't take the Miraculous!" she screamed desperately. There was no place for her to go.

Meanwhile, Gabriel Agreste was in his lair, tracking his son and his akumas.

"Why did I do this?" he questioned himself aloud.

"Because you selfishly wanted to bring your wife back," Plagg answered without empathy, chewing on some Camembert.

"I need to stop this right now. He's going to hurt Marinette," he stated.

"Well, you can go as Hawkmoth, but I doubt she'll trust you," the spirit said, popping the rest of the slice of Camembert into his mouth.

"You're right Plagg," Hawkmoth agreed. "I can't show up in this form." he looked down at his suit. "But, I can show up as Cat Noir."

"I don't know about tha-!"

Ignoring Plagg, he teleported himself to the battle zone. He saw Timebreaker dashing at Ladybug when he detransformed from Hawkmoth.

"Plagg, claws out," Gabriel Agreste stated.

The black cat swirled into the ring. Black shadows went up and down his body revealing a leather suit similar to his son's, except with a few different miniscule differences. He dashed out of the alleyway to see Ladybug flat on the ground trapped by both Copycat and Timebreaker.

"No! Please don't take the Miraculous! Ladybug screamed. Right at that moment, he jumped over the reporters using the staff, and hit Copycat away. Timebreaker looked up from Ladybug and attempted to tackle him, but he got out of the way and tripped her, grabbing one of her rollerblades, and destroying it by stomping on it.

As the purple and green akuma flew out of the rollerblade and paused in the air in front of Gabriel, he bent down and offered the spotted heroine a hand. She timidly took it, and the cat pulled her up.

Before putting her attention on the mysterious man who just saved her, Marinette turned and captured the akuma waiting in the air for her.

After she released the butterfly, she turned to the taller and more mature Cat Noir in front of her. She peered up and down him, mainly noticing his neat, platinum blonde hair, and his icy blue cat eyes.

"Thank you sir for saving me," Ladybug thanked with a stern air in her voice.

"It was my pleasure, Ladybug," he replied with a short bow.

"The question is, can I trust you?" she inquired.

"I-" The adult was cut off when his son's duplicate was about to grab Marinette with a cataclysmic claw. He swiped the imposters hand away with his staff, but in return, the imposter grabbed his own staff, and pointed it at the maturer cat and young bug.

"Give me your Miraculous!" Copycat hissed at both of his enemies.

"How will you get our Miraculous when you can't even land a hit?" the older cat teased, poking the villain's chest with his staff.

"Oh you watch it!" the other growled, and began swinging his staff furiously attempting to hit the adult, but failing as Gabriel made swift tactical movements pushing him away from Ladybug.

"If I were you, I'd take this opportunity to take his akuma while he's distracted," the fashion emperor called back to his intern.

"Oh, right," the spotted heroine replied. She was in quite a daze from the confusing situation, but she turned her focus to the slip of paper in the fake Adrien's belt. The young designer dashed after Copycat. As Chat Noir tripped Copycat with his staff, she snagged the photograph and ripped it apart. She caught the akuma, released it, and though not having her lucky charm, she threw up her yo-yo and called Miraculous Ladybug.

Right after that, Ladybug and the new Chat Noir were surrounded by reporters including Alya, asking questions like, "Ladybug, are you okay?" and "Sir, who are you?" Gabriel Agreste looked over at his intern, and saw that she was looking pale and weak. "Sir?" he was asked again.

"I'm sorry, but Ladybug is not in good shape to be asked questions," he began. "As you all know, she had a long night, and I doubt she has the tolerance to deal with more media. So, let me escort Ladybug away. We'll answer questions after the next battle."

The master designer lifted Ladybug up with one arm, and took off with his staff. He landed on a close rooftop, which happened to be his own, and tried to put Ladybug back down on her feet, but as soon as her feet were on the ground, he looked over at the teen, and realized she had fainted. Instead, of setting her down on the rooftop, he snuck through the window to his office, and set her down in his chair.

Gabriel just sighed, and detransformed. Here was Ladybug right in front of him. Before, he would have sprung at her Miraculous in this event, but now, he had gained back his morality, and he knew he needed to do what was best.

His kwamis flew out to aid him, but he whispered for them to hide, since he didn't want to risk waking her up and surprising her with the fact that he's Hawkmoth.

The adult tried to find a good solution to help his intern, but nothing seemed safe. If he brought her to a hospital in this state, her identity would be revealed. If he brought her back home, she'd worry that the new Chat Noir knew her secret. If he tried to treat her himself, there would be a risk of Adrien trying to steal her Miraculous. If he brought her to his lair, that'd be all wrong. After a while, he decided that going to find Master Fu would be his best option.

Gabriel Agreste decided to silently transform into Hawkmoth, immensely hoping that Marinette wouldn't open her eyes until they got to Master Fu's. He carefully lifted the teen up into his arms, and then teleported himself and the girl over to the front door or Master Fu's house/business. He quickly detransformed before he reluctantly knocked on the door, still carrying Ladybug.

It took a few seconds, but the door slowly opened, and on the other side was the wise old man.

"Hello Hawkmoth. It's been awhile. Come on in," the century-and a-half-old man greeted welcomingly.

"Master! You're just going to let him straight in, making the other Miraculous vulnerable? I-"

Master Fu silenced the turtle kwami, and replied, "He carries a sick, young girl. He had the chance to achieve unlimited power, but he declined it. He has changed, Wayzz."

Gabriel followed the elder, and set Marinette down on the mat in the center of the room. He then turned around to leave, but Master Fu commanded, "Stay, my pupil. Then he said,

"Wayzz, why don't you go entertain Gabriel's kwamis."

As Plagg, Nooroo, and Wayzz headed out, Master Fu breathed in a deep breath and placed his hands over the heroine, sending healing energy to the teen. After a moment, Marinette began to stir, and her eyes squinted open.

"Where am I?" she questioned.

"You are in my house, Ladybug. Do not fear," Master Fu smiled.

"How did I get here?" she asked, still lying down.

"This man brought you here," Master Fu grinned, motioning to Mr. Agreste.

Marinette's eyes widened as she sat up. "Uh, hi Mr. Agreste. How did you know to bring me here?"

Gabriel froze, not knowing how to answer, but the old man answered for him saying, "He was my student many years ago. He was one of the many heroes of Paris. After I reacquired the cat miraculous, I gave it to him, knowing he could be trusted to help you."

Marinette looked up at her mentor, and was amazed, but confused. "If you reacquired it from Hawkmoth, the why didn't you give it to Adrien?" Marinette asked Master Fu.

Master Fu looked over at the student and then at the fashion celebrity. "Maybe you should share the news, Gabriel," the old man stated solemnly.

"Adrien has been akumatized, and has been for quite awhile," he shared apprehensively.

"What?" she gasped. "How did I not know this."

"He lied to you about not being involved with Hawkmoth. But apparently, so did your kwami," Gabriel sighed.

"W-what?! Tikki, spots off," she stuttered fearfully.

Tikki flew out of the earrings, and began blabbering, "I'm sorry, Marinette. I should have told you, but Adrien was turned into Hawkmoth Jr," she confessed.

"W-w-why did you lie to me, Tikki?" she asked, beginning to cry.

"I had a long talk with Plagg since Adrien had transformed while he was akumatized, and he told me…"

Gabriel interrupted, "I had a bitter argument with Adrien that caused him to be akumatized. I assume he became Hawkmoth Jr., since he resented being my son, and probably wished to Hawkmoth to be his father instead."

Marinette stared at her mentor with confusion. "I'm so confused. Your relationship with Adrien has seemed quite good from the looks of it," she pointed out.

"Yes, it was getting better, but then last night, he broke. He was making plans on his own to obtain your Miraculous, so he would be freed from his akuma," the celebrity explained.

The heroine nodded. "So he was the one bringing back old akumas?" she asked.

"Yes," the adult confirmed.

The teen sat down on the ground, organizing all of the information she obtained in the last few minutes. Her boss, mentor, idol, and boyfriend's dad was now Chat Noir. Adrien, her partner and boyfriend has been akumatized and has been manipulating her for nearly a week as Adrien, Chat, and Hawkmoth Jr.

Suddenly, Mr. Agreste's phone began to ring. He looked at it, and it was one of his employees probably questioning where he was, so he quickly said, "I need to go. I have work. Marinette why don't you come with me. I know that today is your day off, but with my son being hostile, I think it'd be safer if we stuck together." He then put the phone back to his ear as he listened to his employee more

"Just wait a minute," he told Marinette as he walked out the door.

As the door closed, Marinette turn to the old man and asked, "How did you get back the cat miraculous?"

Master Fu took a small breath and closed his eyes. He then opened them up again as spoke solemnly: "I mustn't tell you. It is a secret I must keep just like the secret of your identity to Hawkmoth Jr. Don't fret though, Marinette. You will soon go through times of pain and resentment, but please keep what you care for and love in mind for it will lead you down to a path of prosperity and possibly peace."

Marinette nodded blankly, not knowing how to interpret the information the master shared. She sat there for a moment before Gabriel opened the door again, and beckoned Marinette back out.

Tikki flew back into Marinette's pouch as the two walked to the street and got in Gabriel's limousine. As they drove away, they noticed the sidewalks were nearly empty, probably due to Hawkmoth Jr. and his akuma. After they arrived at the office, they quickly got indoors so no akuma could suddenly. They quickly arrived to the top floor with her and Gabriel's offices.

Marinette followed Gabriel down to his office, since she didn't have anything to do as she pulled up Alya's vlog.

"Things are not looking good!" the girl reported. "More and more past akumas keep showing up, all with green moth masks. The latest seen are Dark Cupid, Evillistrator, and Antibug, hopefully no one else gets akumatized."

At that moment, Marinette saw a green and purple butterfly fly in from above and strike Alya, causing her to drop her phone. The next moment, there was an evil cackle as the phone was picked up, and in place of Alya was Lady Wifi. It appeared Lady Wifi was about to talk, but was stopped by a moth appearing over her face.

"Hello, internet, and hello Ladybug" Lady Wifi spoke, though it was not truly Lady Wifi who spoke, but the person behind her green moth mask. "I'll find you soon, Ladybug, and the Miraculous will be mine!"

The stream ended there, but Marinette kept looking at the screen. "This is awful! Hawkmoth Jr.'s just making more and more akumas. We have to stop him!" she exclaimed.

"We can't do anything yet, Marinette. Our main priority currently should be to keep the cat and ladybug Miraculouses hidden from him," the mentor advised.

At that moment, Marinette's phone lit up, and Lady Wifi flew out of the phone as Marinette dropped it. Marinette ran behind the desk to where her mentor was, but as she was about to look back at Lady Wifi, Dark Cupid swooped up to the window, with Evillistrator who wore a jetpack.

"What do we do!" the hidden hero rasped to the fashion king, just as Evillistrator erased the window, and stepped in with Dark Cupid.

"What do you want, akumas!" Gabriel gritted his teeth together as the akumas surrounded them.

There was a dark chuckle from behind Dark Cupid. Kim stepped to the side as Hawkmoth Jr. slowly approached Gabriel.

"You know want I want, what you want. You were just with her. I'm surprised you didn't get it," Juniour muttered to his father, glancing to the side at Marinette as she was trying to figure comprehend what she just heard.

If you think I want them anymore, you are wrong," the man stated furiously. "And if you think that I'm going to tell you where she is, then you are also wrong.

Juniour chuckled again, and glanced again at Marinette. "Well, then okay, father. That just means I get to have a little fun as I check every single pair of earrings in Paris."

The akuma leader then quickly approached Marinette, about to grab her earrings, but he was interrupted as Gabriel approached the open window.

"Mr. Agreste, what are you doing?!" Marinette screamed, as the end of his shoes hung over the edge, distracting Hawkmoth Jr.

"Don't worry Marinette. I'll be fine," Gabriel spoke calmly, and he took one more step, and fell out the window from the top floor.


	17. Chapter 17

A/N: Well, look at that. I finished another chapter, though it's much shorter compared to the last one. This chapter might ruin the ending of the last chapter for some of you, but you know I couldn't just kill off Gabriel like that. I hope you enjoy!

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"No! Mr. Agreste!" Marinette cried as Hawkmoth Jr. let her go. The girl hesitantly approached the window, searching the air below for her idol, but he was not to be seen. "Mr. Agreste…" she sobbed. She closed her eyes in mourning, and let out heart wrenching screams.

Hawkmoth Jr. and his akuma were frozen in shock, and failed to react when dark wisps appeared, and Hawkmoth materialized. There was no time for the akumas to react as the villain, turned hero, placed his hand on Marinette's shoulder, and disappeared with her.

Marinette was surprised by the hand on her shoulder. She opened her eyes to find something even more surprising, a dark room with a purple tint. The room was dome-like, and there was one window, a circular one that rays of light filtered through. In the light, there were little white butterflies fluttering around playfully, and on the ground, there were comfy-looking chairs that faced each other.

The girl then turned her attention to the hand that was on her shoulder. She looked over, and saw gloved hand. The glove was smooth, unlike Chat Noir's claw ones. She was about to turn around to see who wore the glove, but as she turned, the figure disappeared. The civilian searched around the room for the person, but they were nowhere to be seen. Assuming that she'd be waiting there for awhile, she hesitantly got up, walked over to the chairs, and sat down in one, wiping her next moment, she was startled as a voice behind her called, "Nooroo, dark wings fall!"

The next moment, she was startled as a voice behind her called, "Nooroo, dark wings fall!" The aspiring designer turned around and froze in disbelief. Standing there was none other than Gabriel Agreste, still alive and unharmed, brushing himself off before walking over to her.

"M-m-mr. Agreste!" she cried of happiness, getting up, stumbling over to him, and sloppily wrapping her arms around him.

"I did tell you I'd be fine," the master designer chuckled, supporting the teen with his arms.

"But why did you do such a stupid thing!" she rasped. "I thought you killed yourself."

"Please, Marinette. All is well. I even have a gift for you," Gabriel smiled, turning his fist over in front of her.

Marinette finally let go of her boss, and looked over to his hand. Gabriel slowly opened his hand revealing a beautiful brooch. It was pale green and blue, and it was shaped like a peacock. "Oh my goodness, it's beautiful!" she beamed, picking it up, "But why are you giving me this?"

Gabriel sighed. He lifted up the scarf on his neck, and revealed a small, pale brooch. "If we are to defeat Hawkmoth Jr., we must both be equipped with two Miraculouses," he explained.

The teenager looked at the brooch, and tried to figure it out what animal it could be, but had no luck. "Is this the one you used in the past?" she inquired.

"Yes, it is," he replied, doing his best to keep a calm face.

"Then why didn't you use this one to come and save me," she asked.

The adult took in a deep breath. "Well, I did use it to save you, but not when you saw me for obvious reasons as you will soon learn. Nooroo, come on out."

Out from behind Gabriel, a purple little fairy flew. He slowly flew over the man's shoulder and stopped in front of the girl. "Hello there, Ladybug," the spirit greeted shyly.

"Hello there," Marinette greeted back with a sweet smile and a wave. She gazed over the little kwami, noticing the cute little swirl on its head, and little wings behind him. "Aw, your so cute! You look like a little butterfly or…" The heroine froze as she spoke the last word. "...moth."

Marinette looked up at the butterflies dancing around in the light, and noticed how they were identical to the akumas she de-evilized. She then looked back at Gabriel and his kwami, both looking ashamed.

The girl slowly began to back up, though her mentor remain in the same place. "Please, Mr. Agreste. Tell me you're not Hawkmoth."

The billionaire's head sunk to his chest in shame. "I'm sorry, Marinette, but I can't tell you that."

"So that's why Hawkmoth Jr. said that the thing that you want is the same thing," she remembered, but then started backing up much faster.

"Marinette, please," he begged.

"You know Ladybug's secret identity. You have since it was accidentally reveal. Has this been what you've been waiting for?! Just the moment when I finally lay all of my trust in you, and then you come to steal my Miraculous?!" the teen choked out.

"No, it hasn't Marinette," Gabriel sighed. "Currently, I just want to get my son unakumatized, and put Paris back together. I'm sure you won't believe me if I say that I won't use my Miraculous for evil after this, but I am telling you the truth, Ladybug."

The heroine peered at him skeptically, and crossed arms. "You are correct. I don't believe you," she huffed.

Gabriel closed his eyes, and sighed dejectedly. "Well, then I guess I have no choice then." Gabriel lifted his scarf, and pulled off the moth Miraculous. He then walked over to the girl behind Ladybug, and handed it to her, as well with the cat Miraculous. "I hope you enjoy, those" he smiled sadly. "I also expect that you wouldn't want to continue with that internship after this. I'll send some other companies your work, and I'm sure they'll take you as an intern."

Marinette was finally hit back in to her empathetic mind, as she looked down at the three Miraculouses in her hands. They were all in their natural forms, the cat Miraculous black, the peacock Miraculous green, and the moth Miraculous a pinkish purple.

The girl shook her head, and looked back at her idol, searching his expression, trying see if this was a trick or a dream of some sort, but it was none of the like. "You seriously just gave me three Miraculouses?" she asked.

The adult looked at her like she was asking an obvious question. "Of course I gave those Miraculouses. I trust you will make the best judgement with them, and return them to where they belong."

That was all the girl needed to hear. A small smile pricked the corners of her lips as she walked over to the fashion king. She sorted the Miraculouses in her hands, and held out a fist of the Miraculouses she chose for him. "No, I couldn't accept the Miraculous back," he refused, gently pushing her hand back.

"I insist," the girl stated clearly. "As you said, we must both be equipped with two Miraculouses if we are to defeat Hawkmoth Jr., so I must give you two."

Gabriel carefully turned his hand over to receive the Miraculouses she chose for him. As she opened her hand, he was surprised to find the ring and the peacock brooch in his hand. He looked back up to see Marinette fasten the moth brooch onto her shirt, and Nooroo fly out of the pin.

"Why did you choose these for me?" he asked curiously.

"Well, first of all, I've heard that the cat Miraculous and the ladybug Miraculous used together give someone unlimited power, and I don't want any of that," she began. "Second of all, I chose the moth Miraculous for myself, since the civilians would be terrified if the real Hawkmoth were to show up in all of this chaos, and last of all, I have no idea what to expect if I use the peacock Miraculous. I haven't seen it before now, unlike you who has seen it in action."

Gabriel smiled, and bowed graciously. "Thank you very much, Marinette. This means a lot to me."

"Oh, and also, don't go through all of the work sending my portfolio to other companies. I'll stick with the internship I have," she grinned confidently.

"No problem with that. Unless more issues come about when all of this chaos has ended," he confirmed.

The adult quickly slid the ring on, and clipped the brooch on. Both Plagg and the peacock kwami tumbled out. The peacock kwami shook its head, waking itself up from its slumber.

"Hello, Duusu," he greeted.

Duusu whipped its head around, and glared at Gabriel at first, but then mellowed into a cute smile. "Hello there, Gabriel. Managed to bring your wife back?" it said with smile, and then a straight face.

"No, I haven't, but I require your help," he responded.

"Oh, so you want to use me in order to get the cat and ladybug Miraculouses," it glared.

Plagg gave an attention seeking cough, and Duusu turned around to notice Plagg, Nooroo, and Tikki. "Oh hello, fellow kwami. I didn't see you there," it grinned, like it was not even angry before. It turned back to Gabriel, with a lighter glare said, "You already have the cat and ladybug Miraculous, so what do you want me for?"

"I need your help to fix a mistake I made," he answered. "I akumatized my son, Adrien, and he's been akumatized for too long; he's uncontrollable."

Duusu turned around, finally noticing Marinette who stood there calmly, wearing both the moth and ladybug Miraculouses. "Interesting," it stated. "Well get over with, I guess. Just make sure I get my popcorn when I need it!" it glared, but instantly smiled as it finished.

"Alright then, Duusu," he began. "Feathers up."

In that moment, the billionaire was surrounded by blue wisps and feathers as a blue suit with a peacock-tail, tail coat appeared. In his hands were two fans that looked like two peacock tails, and on his face was a blue and red mask.

"Wow! That's really cool!" Marinette exclaimed in wonder. "I wonder how Hawkmoth's suit is going to look on me!" she chuckled. "What do I say, again?"

"You say 'dark wings, rise," Nooroo answered.

"Alright then, dark wings, rise," Marinette cheered.

Marinette's body was covered with dark shadows as the transformation commenced. As the shadows faded, both Gabriel and Marinette were shocked to find that her outfit was a dark violet dress that went down to her knees with black leggings underneath. The sleeves of the dress went down to her elbows where it transitioned into black gloves. On her face, was a partial mask, similar to that of Hawkmoth Jr.'s, one that hid her face completely, but not her hair or mouth.

"Wow, I was just expecting a suit, like the one you wear, but fitted to me. I was not expecting this," the girl gasped in amazement.

"It looks like Nooroo decided to fit your style," Tikki giggled.

"It is an amazing outfit," Monsieur Peacock commented.

"Are you guys going to finish up this dawdling? I want my real Miraculous holder back and safe," Plagg interrupted with the surprisingly sentimental statement.

"Okay, Plagg, is it?" Marinette asked. "We'll get on it right now."

Hawkmoth offered her hand to Monsieur Peacock, and the two disappeared.

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A/N: I doubt I'll be able to make the next chapter as quickly, but encouragement really helps. Also, it'd be cool if I could get a cover for this story. Most of my artist friends are quite busy, so I doubt I'll ever get a cover, but there's always hope.


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